Wunsch auf einem Stern
by Hydrotamer
Summary: Wishing on stars is easy... but there are always complications when it comes to making them come true. OC x Prussia x Germany
1. Prologue

Wunsch auf einem Stern

Prologue:

I opened the shutters to my large bedroom and stared out into the moon lit sky, smiling excitedly. A sight that I had been waiting for since this morning awaited me, a meteor shower. The falling stars danced and twinkled across the sky as my younger sister, Sade rushed by my side and shouted, "Hurry, you're missing it!" to the rest of my family. She turned back towards the magical stars as well and suddenly the rest of my sisters, as well as my mother and father, poured inside of my room and stood behind me watching.

All of my sisters exclaimed in excitement, and at the heat of the moment I placed my hands together to make a wish. Sade looked at me curiously and asked, "What are you doing?" "Shh!" I said, "I'm making a wish." Sade frowned and turned to our mother, "Mommy, Kandake just shushed me!" My father laughed heartedly and patted Sade's head, "Don't worry about that sweetie, let her make her wish." One of my other sisters named Fatima nudged my arm quietly and asked, "What are you wishing about Kandake?" I opened my eyes and a smile returned to my face as I said, "I wished that we could all be together and share moments like this forever!" Everyone turned to me and smiled back as we continued to watch the stars…

…little did we know that we would never be together forever.

**(A/N: Okay, now time to name all the sisters in order of age:**

**Kandake (9)**

**Sade (8)**

**Jewel (8)**

**Eliana (7)**

**Cheylah**** (7)**

**Barika (6)**

**Alegria (6)**

**Vanessa (5)**

**Fatima (5)**


	2. Chapter 1

Ch. 1

My wish was never fulfilled.

A few months after the whole falling star fiasco, we had heard about a war breaking out between two feuding royalists and that the war would soon be spreading here. My father, my beloved father, took it upon himself and his kingdom to help his allies fight and left for war, along with his army of men. I remember his last words to me as he mounted on his great stallion,  
"Kandake, take care of your sisters and keep them out of trouble. I'm counting on you to hold down the fort while I'm gone." I nodded my head sadly as he began to depart but stopped, "I want you to remember this, Kandake," I lifted my head up as he said, "no matter how far apart we may be, our family is still together. No matter if we're together or not we are one."  
I choked back the tears as I watched him leave. "Come back…" I whispered, "Come back… I know you will."

He never did…

A few days later our kingdom was ambushed and taken over by an enemy team. To avoid war with us, the new ruler married my mother and became king. However he, along with his son, expatriated me and my sisters to god knows where. I refused to have us separated but we had no choice. I watched in pain as my mother just watched helplessly as we all were carried away from her,  
"Mother!" We all called,  
"Please don't leave us!" Jewel, my other sister called, "You can't let them do this to us!"  
Hot tears poured down my eyes with anger and sadness, "Moeder, why are you letting them do this?" I shouted,  
"Dit is vir die goeie van ons mense." I heard her say under her breath. I could tell that my sisters had heard and understood as well because they all stopped struggling as the men carried us away,  
"Ek haat jou!" I shouted with anger.

_-10 years later-_

10 years…

10 long years since we last saw our mother… 10 long years since we saw our father…

…10 long years since we last saw home.

I walked through the thick fields of dirt, grime, and thorns and grimaced at the pain of another cut on my leg. I dropped a wooden pail and pulled out not one, but two thorns, from my leg and rubbed the cut softly. I sighed heavily and looked at the sky, "Father…" I breathed as the wind started picking up, "I wish you were here." Suddenly I heard a barrage of shouts coming from the direction I was walking. I sighed and rolled my eyes, I knew exactly who was causing the noise.

I quickened my pace to a light jog as I saw my younger sister, Sade, and my other younger adopted sister, Jewel, arguing. The rest of the girls just stared at them quietly. "I'm sick of this! Why do we have to work so hard? What have we done to deserve this?" Sade shouted,  
"Stop your bickering, Sade, you're such a baby!" Jewel shouted back. I walked behind my sister, Cheylah, "What started her bickering this time?" I asked annoyed, "Cotton picking." She replied and placed her hands on her hips and I sighed, shaking my head whilst the other girls continued to argue, "You don't understand, Jewel! You don't understand the pain I'm feeling right now!"  
"We all do, Sade," Eliana, one of my younger sisters, piped up, "We're going through the same thing that you are." Sade shook her head in frustration, "No, Eliana! You still don't understand! They weren't even your real parents!"  
I looked at Eliana's face as she closed her mouth in sadness. Sade clutched her head in stress, "Mother and Father, and our whole kingdom is gone! I want our home and family back! I'm sick of living he-!"

**SLAP**

Everyone stared at Sade as she clutched her cheek with shock and stared back at me and my hand. Through her tanned coffee tainted skin I could see a red mark from where my hand had hit her face, "That's enough." I said sternly, my eyes were like a soldier. "Now I don't want to hear any more of your bickering the rest of day, do you understand me?" Sade stared at me with an anger written face, but then she nodded her head and walked away from me.

I heard a man shout to us, "Hey, you over there! Get back to work!" I sighed and rolled my eyes at the voice, it was that loudmouth Sadik. He rushed over to both of us and wiped some sweat off his tanned forehead whilst tidying up his short dark brown hair. "Kandake, lovely weather we're having today isn't it?" He tried to hold my hand but I slapped him away,  
"Cut the crap, Sadik. What do you want?"  
Sadik smiled smugly, "Have you reconsidered my off-?"  
"No! I haven't!" I cut him off, "I will never marry you!"

His smile dropped like a sack of potatoes, "Oh come on, Kandake! I promise I'll take you away from here, provide a better life for both of us!" I turned away from him, "You just want a wife that'll cook and clean for you while you just slack off and do nothing."  
"That's harsh, Kandake. Please just give me one chance." Sadik said looking upset,  
"No! You've asked me the same question for over ten years and each time I will reply with the same answer." I turned back to face him, "By the way, what is it you really came here to ask for?"

I saw Sadik's eyes wander away from mine, "Well… I kinda needed a few things from the market. But every time I try to get around to it, I always spend my money on things I don't need. So could you please run to the market for me and a few items for me?" I sighed,  
"Well-."  
Sadik cut me off by shoving a list in my hand while quickly saying, "Thanks Kandake, just hurry back!"

He disappeared in the fields as I huffed in frustration, "Jerk." and I was about to walk towards a small shack that we stayed in until my youngest sister, Alegria stopped in front of me with a woven basket in her hand. I sighed with relief and smiled, "Thanks Alegria."  
I took the basket and walked away from the plantations and into the market.

The market that Sadik shopped in regularly was filled with chatter and noise, from every corner I could hear somebody selling another person something, or somebody wanted a refund, or if there were brawls between rival shop owners.  
I flashed out the Sadik's list and looked at the Arabic writing:

بيض

حليب

جبن

خبز

الورود

بدلة

الاشتباك الطوق

الزواج مني من فضلك!

I growled and ripped up the note with frustration, "That idiot just sent me on a wild goose chase!"  
I was suddenly overcome by an utter silence and noticed that the whole market was staring at me. I started laughing nervously and waved at everybody else, "Hi." Then I burst off running.

I stopped at the entrence of the plantation and proceeded to catch my breath, "That was embarrassing." I said to myself. Whilst walking inside through the gates I noticed a soldier in bright armor standing in front of Fatima, pestoring her. She tried walking around him but he stepped in front of her, when Fatima tried to walk away again he did the same thing! That was when I decided to step in. I started rushing towards Fatima when I saw more guards coming out and walking towards my little sister,  
"Fatima!" I shouted as I pushed one of the guards out of the way and stepped in front of my sister, "What do you want? Don't you have somewhere else to be?"

The main guard reached out towards me and touched my hair, "You're a cute little girl aren't you?" I angrily slapped his hand away as another guard started laughing evilly. He then reached over to Fatima and said,  
"This one's more obideient."  
The guard grabbed at her hair and yanked it whist dragging her away from me, she screamed. That was when anger boiled in the pit of my stomach,  
"Don't touch them!" I heard a voice shout behind me, it was Jewel. She rushed over and pushed one of the guards down, suddenly I noticed all of my sisters come out and begin to help us. Then we all realized that we bit off a little more then we could chew once the soldiers started to overpower us, on of which pinned me down and was cackling insanely,  
"There's one for everyone!" He shouted as he planted a sloppy wet kiss on my cheek and I screamed in fear.

GUNSHOT

"What's going on here?" A voice boomed. In my opinion, that voice was even louder than the gunshot alone. All of us turned to a pistol, who's barrel was smoking, in the air. It was held up by a white gloved hand. "Seriously? Fighting against women when the odds are in your favor, men? How un-awesome of you!" A man with a heavy German accent shouted at the knights as they all let go of me and my sisters. Fatima ran over to me and hugged my hips in a scared manner, I could feel her little heart beating against my chest. Suddenly I looked up and noticed two men walking towards us, I then noticed how all of the guards dropped down to their knees in a scared manner and looked back at the men.

One of them was an albino with white hair and red eyes. He wore a long black trench coat with sandy beige hems and all kinds of gold clasps on it, on his hands were black gloves with white sleeves. Underneath the coat I could see a white shirt and he had on white pants to follow. I gulped a bit when I saw him holding a sword with some sort of ancient writing on the handle.  
The other man was taller with striking blue eyes that looked like they could pierce through my heart and had a black hat on his head. I could see from the side of his face that he had blonde hair, like Jewel. I was awed at how black his suit was. Everything from his jacket to his boots were black as night. I was even more amazed at how he could wear all of that in this hot weather! In his left hand was the pistol. When I saw it I hugged Fatima closer to me and she hid her face.

I watched as the albino walked over to us with wandering eyes and I ordered Fatima to get behind me. I tried sounding brave, "If you take one more step closer to us I'll-!"

"You'll what?" The man asked, "You're a smart young woman, don't threaten to do something that you'll regret." I felt my heart flip a little as he reached out and touched my dirty face,  
"Don't worry little frau I'm not going to hurt your little sister, that wouldn't be awesome." He smiled, "You're a schon madchen." Then I saw him turn to the blonde man behind him, "Don't you agree, bruder?"

The other man just turned to me and I felt a pang of fear rush through me at his cold stare. "Kesesese! Don't worry about my brother, he's just a little shy around beautiful women." I felt my cheeks get red hot and I was sure that he could see it, even through my milk chocolate skin. "By the way I am the awesome Gilbert Beilschmit!" He points to his brother and says, "That's my brother, Ludwig Beilschmit. He's awesome, but not as awesome as me!"

I heard a gruff growl come from Ludwig as I said, "My name is Kandake Sitota," I pointed to the girls near me, "and these are my sisters: Sade, Jewel, Eliana, Cheylah, Barika, Vanessa, Alegria, and Fatima." Gilbert nodded his head and bowed respectfully, as did Ludwig.  
"What do you want from us?" Sade asked angrily. Gilbert simply smiled sneakily and took my hand in his, "Kandake, how would you like to become my bride?"

My eyes felt like they were going to pop out of my head. His bride? I didn't even know the man and he was already asking me to marry him! I looked back at my sisters and thought of what would happen if I did marry Gilbert, what would happen to them? Would they be alright? But if I didn't marry him we might be stuck down here forever! I saw Fatima's eyes that read "no" widen.

"Y-You're highness, she is nothing but a mere field worker! This thing is not suitable for your kind!" The main guard who kissed me spoke whilst still bowing on his knees in the dirt like a pheasant instead of a mighty soldier.  
Gilbert snapped his fingers and I watched as Ludwig walked over to the bowing guard and kicked him roughly in his gut. The man gagged and coughed up blood when his helmet fell off his head. My unofficial husband walked towards the man and lifted him up by his wild blond bangs, I noticed a small trail of blood drip down the side of the man's mouth,  
"First of all, Matthias, you are in no position to give me orders, you weren't even supposed to be here in the first place. Second, if I were you I would shut my mouth especially after knowing that I disobeyed my king's orders and run the risk of ruining his name. Third, I think it's best if we let her decide first." I turned to Gilbert who stared at me,

"Okay, I will."

All of my sisters gasped and Gilbert smiled, "Smart girl." He said, "But," I raised my hand up, "You have to get my sisters a better place to live then here." Gilbert nodded, "Of course, anything for my awesome bride." He then kissed my hand, "You have such beautiful hands, Kandake." He turned to Ludwig, "Bruder! We're ready to go." Ludwig nodded silently and got inside a carriage that I had failed to notice before. I, along with Gilbert, walked towards it as well,  
"Kandake, please don't do this!" I heard Fatima shout and run after me, wrapping her hands around my waist and sobbing,  
"Please don't go! Please don't leave us!"  
I turned around and hugged my smaller sister, "Don't cry, Fatima. I promise I'll come back,"  
Fatima looked at me with her tearstained face, "You promise?"  
I nodded and said, "And I also promise to get us all a better place to live, okay?"  
Fatima nodded her head and hugged me again. I stood up and turned to Sade who was crossing her arms, "Sade!" I said under my breath and she looked up, "Take care of them, for I will return."  
I turned to Ludwig who extended his hand out and helped me inside of the carriage.  
I saw Gilbert turn back around and look at Sade and flash a grin, then he walked inside as well.  
I heard the reins of the horse slap against the horse and the carriage started rattling and moving away from the plantations. My sisters all waved goodbye to me except for Sade, she just turned her head away from me with anger. I reached my hand out and waved at my family, for I didn't know whether or not it would be the last time we saw each other.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

**A.N: Ohhhhh! I hope what's gonna happen to Kandake! Well I know what because I'm the writer, but I just like the suspense!**

**Here are the translations:**

**Moeder- Mother (Afrikaans)  
Dit is vir die goeie van ons mense- It is for the good of our people (Afrikaans)  
Ek haat jou- I hate you (Afrikaans)**

بيض

حليب

جبن

خبز

الورود

بدلة

الاشتباك الطوق

الزواج مني من فضلك!- **Eggs**

** Milk**

** Cheese**

** Bread**

** Roses**

** Suit**

** Engagement Ring**

** Marry me please!  
****frau-girl  
schon madchen- beautiful girl**

**bruder-brother  
**


	3. Chapter 2

I stared outside of the carriage in silence as it rode across the dirt path. For almost an eternatiy I felt was lost in thought thinking about my sisters and whether I would be able to see them again. Then I felt a hand on my shoulder and turned around to see Gilbert, "Don't worry Kandake, I promise that you'll be able to see your family again one day." He plastered a small grin on his face. I blushed and looked down at my feet in embarrassment.  
"So Kandake, tell me. How long have you worked on the plantations?" I started fiddling with my hands nervously and replied, "10 years."

"What about your parents? Where are they?"

I cringed at the questions and stopped fiddling, "They're gone." I said bluntly and Gilbert nodded his head, "I understand. My bruder and I both lost our parents to the plague at an early age as well." That was when I remembered, the plague hadn't spread to our part of the country! But at that moment I thought it would've been best just to play along with it for the time being. When I looked back out the window my eyes nearly popped out of my head. In my sights was a large castle bigger then I could imagine! I could tell that Gilbert saw my enthusiasm and I saw him smile. He touched my frail hand and said,

"Willkommen zu Hause, Kandake." When the carriage finally the door opened and a man stood outside. He had brown hair with an odd curl sticking up from his head and a mole under his lip. I noticed how he was wearing specticles and wore a long blue wool coat with a white jabot to match. The man reached out his hand for me and said, "Miss?"

I hesitated at first but then I reached out and put my hand into his. He guided me down the steps of the carriage and I saw him flash a slightly disgusted look at the clothes I was wearing. Finally he asked, "May I ask for your name?" Gilbert walked from out of the carriage followed by Ludwig, "This is Kandake Sitota, I met her on the fields…" He suddenly kissed my cheek, much to my surprise. I felt my heart start racing, "…she's my new fiancée, Rodrich." Gilbert smiled at me and I saw Rodrich slightly frown, "Very well then." He replied and turned his back towards me, "Luncheon shall be served soon. I hope by that time you will be dressed in a more... appropriate attire." I brushed a stray hair from in front of my eyes in embarrassment,

"Don't listen to him, Kandake. He's always like that." Gilbert said as he wrapped a hand around my shoulder for comfort. When we walked inside towards the grand hall I looked around at the large room in awe. Even my old castle wasn't as big as this! There were two sets of grand stairs that were covered in red carpet and outlined in gold. On the walls were pictures of men in royal clothes and statues of knights lined across the hallways. On top of us was a crystal chandelier that hung, illuminating the room and tall glass windows across the walls, "It's beautiful…" I exclaimed.

Suddenly I noticed two girls walk towards us. One of them had wavy sandy brown hair and a pale yellow scarf on her head. She wore a black shirt with puffy sleeves and an orange skirt covered by a white apron with a lacy design at the bottom, and dark brown boots. The younger girl had long blond hair tied in braids and wore a strapless blue dress with a white undershirt that had puffy sleeves, and dark brown boots like the older lady. "Kandake, I would like you to meet your new chambermaids: Elizabeta Héderváry…" The older girl bowed her head with respect, "…and Lili Zwingli." The youngest one bowed nervously. "Ladies, would you please show Kandake to her room for the night, and please get her cleaned up for lunch?" Gilbert said as he turned towards me, "Yes sir." Elizabeta responded,

"I will return soon, I have to take care of some matters with my brother." He reached for my hand and kissed it gently, then walked off with Ludwig who stared at me with his intense blue eyes a short while. I felt fear being spread in my body and started shaking slightly, "Ludwig, let's go." I heard Gilbert say from afar. The scary man stopped staring at me and walked off in the direction of his brother. I was snapped out of my trance when Lili started shaking my arm softly saying, "Uhm, Miss Kandake? We have to get you cleaned up for lunch." I nodded quietly and walked off with them.

-Later-

**GILBERT'S POV**

I walked towards the dining hall with my brother close behind, "So, bruder, what did you think of Kandake?" "She's fine." I chuckled at his reply, "'She's fine.'? Of all the things that goes on in that head of yours all you can say is, 'She's fine.'? You amaze me." Ludwig grunted with disapproval. We stopped inside of our dining hall and I was suddenly greeted by a voice, "Sir Gilbert?" I turned to the side and noticed Lili standing in front of one of the many hallways that led to the here, "Yes?" I replied as she turned around towards the dark hallway. "Now go on in. And don't be shy." I heard Elizabeta say in the darkness. I noticed a foot take a step into the light… …and an angel appeared before my very eyes.

**KANDAKE'S POV**

As I walked into the light I could feel all eyes on me and I blushed madly. My face was all cleaned up as well as my hair and I wore a velvet red gown with long sleeves and gold outlines; I looked at Roderich who glared back at me, "Is this attire sutible enough?" I asked before Gilbert walked towards me and lifted my chin with his hooked finger, "Absolutely." Suddenly I felt him press his lips on my forehead and Rodrich cleared his throat, "Master Gilbert, your luncheon." We sat at an adequate table near the castle courtyard. I looked at the food that was served in front of me, there was a large salad, and a plate full of different vegetables. As the servants gave us each a serving of food I just glared helplessly. The thought of me eating this food just made me feel sick and selfish, "My sisters need this more then I do…" Gilbert asked me, "Are you alright? You seem a little down." "I'm fine, just a little tired." I took one of the silver forks at my right and slowly at the fresh lettuce and vegetables, that was when it dawned on me, _"This is my first real meal that I've had in ages!"_ I found myself taking and eating more and more.

When I felt that I had finished I wiped my lips off with the napkin in my lap and both Gilbert and I stood up. I looked outside of the window as Gilbert walked towards me asking, "Is everything alright?" I nodded my head and said, "Could we go outside for a second? I would like to have a breath of fresh air."  
Gilbert nodded and said, "Of course."

I stepped outside into the warm garden and looked at all the flowers that covered each bush. My eyes widened as I picked one of the flowers, "It's so beautiful!" I remarked, before turning to face him, "How many types of flowers do you own?" Gilbert crossed his arms and started thinking, "Well, if I remember correctly, close to 50 at least." I took the blue tulip that was in my hand and sniffed it… the scent was so sweet, "My Vatti made this for my Mutti." He told me, "Your mother?" I asked remembering the little German I actually knew, "Ja. He always told me that when they first met, Mutti would always be found inside of a garden that she frequently visited in the town square." "Your father has exquisite taste when it comes to picking out flowers." I complemented and turned around to face him, but started giggling at something on his head.

"What?" Gilbert asked playfully and I pointed, "Seems like someone wants to make a nest out of your hair."  
"Huh?" He looked up and laughed heartily, "Oh him!" On the top of his head was a small chick with yellow puffed out feathers resting like it was in a nest. Gilbert reached his index finger out like a perch and the little sleeping chick woke up and hopped on his finger, chirping in the process. "This is my awesome pet, Gilbird." I giggled and reached my finger out towards the small pet, and touched his soft feathers,  
"Why hello, Gilbird." Gilbird chirped even more and flew off of Gilbert's hand and onto my shoulder, nuzzling my neck.  
"He's adorable." I remarked.

"I meant to ask you…" My fiancée said whilst planting a serious expression on his face, "How old are you, Kandake?" I cringed a little and looked down, "19." I replied softly,  
"Why haven't you been married yet?"  
I felt the wind begin to blow through my curly hair in silence, "I, at first, was never really focused on marriage and only on taking care of my family. When my moeder and foeder left, I was only 10 years old and carried the responsibility of taking care of my sisters. But then, while working on the plantations, I was frequently asked by Sadik to marry him and each time I would reply with the same answer because I knew that he couldn't provide me and my family with the things that we need to live."

I sighed as Gilbird started cooing softly in my ear.  
"I understand what you're going though, Kandake."  
I looked up at my husband and asked, "You do?" He nodded, " It took me a long time to actually find someone who's very smart, kind, caring and…" Gilbert tilted my chin up and looked into my eager brown eyes, "…beautiful." His eyes… I couldn't take mine off of them. They look so passionate… so filled with lust. He leaned in towards me to plant a kiss on my lips but then a voice piped up saying, "Gilbert."

My fiancée turned to face Ludwig who stood facing both of us. "What is it Ludwig?" I heard him say, slightly annoyed.  
"T-The captain of the guard wanted to speak with you."  
Gilbert nodded and Ludwig walked off. "I'm sorry." He whispered in my ear and planted a kiss on my forehead again. I turned around and watched in silence as Gilbert walked out of the garden. I felt the warm breeze whip through my hair again when I sat back down in the garden and stared at the sunny horizon. "_Kandake…Kandake…"_ my sisters' voices echoed through my mind. I sighed in defeat but then smiled lightly, _"Stop worrying, Kandake,"_ I thought to myself, _"You'll be able to see them tomorrow and then you'll give them a better home in the upper ring."_ My grin became wider, _"Just cheer up."_

Suddenly Gilbird flew off of my shoulder unexpectantly. While worrying about Gilbert's pet I was unaware of the pair of feet that were standing behind me, "Miss…Kandake?" I heard a deep voice say behind my back, and I turned around in alert. Behind me was Gilbert's large and scary brother, Ludwig.  
I felt my heart's pace quicken with fear, "I s-s-something w-wrong?" I stuttered helplessly. Ludwig stared back at me with a serious expression for the longest of time, finally he shook his head, "Nein, everything's fine. Gilbert just sent me back here to make sure that nothing happens to you while he's away." I nodded slowly and unsurely,  
"Well…thank you." I said quietly. I heard Ludwig clear his throat, "Y-Your sisters… were you thinking about them?"

I felt my heart skip a beat when he mentioned them and I slowly nodded, "Why are you asking?" I questioned when I turned around, actually looking at him without fear for once.  
"When you first left the plantations, I noticed one of your sisters acted as though she didn't care. Why?" Ludwig tilted his head slightly to the side in a confused manner, like a little kid.  
My expression dropped drastically and I replied lowly, "That was my biological sister, Sade. She's always hated me ever since our home was taken over and blames me for the incident." Ludwig's serious face softened a little, "Why does she blame you? It's not like you caused your home to be overthrown."

I sighed, "I made a stupid decision, though." He stared at me confused, "Before our home was taken over, I was given the option of either marrying the wannabe king's son or have our home overthrown. You can guess which option I chose. Ever since then Sade's acted as though she's hated me and how she regrets being my sister."

Ludwig's face turned serious again, "What a senseless reason." He scoffed,  
"It's not senseless!" I lashed back at him. I stood up and poked his chest, but Ludwig didn't even flinch,  
"If I was Sade I would be upset that my sister chose a life of poverty over a life of living a high title as well!"  
"But you're not your sister, first of all." The blond man said calmly yet stern, "And second, it was your decision not hers. In my opinion, I think that anybody who chooses their family over royalty is worth the honorable title."

I felt a blush creep on my cheeks and my anger died down, "Why…thank you." I looked into his stern eyes and that's when I noticed something. The look in his face it wasn't sternness—no— it looked more like depression. "You look so sad. Why?" I asked slightly tilting my head this time, "What do you mean?" Ludwig asked, "The more I look at you the more I see that your expression looks more depressed then serious." He raised one eyebrow curiously so I decided to drop the matter.

I sat down on the grass and turned to Ludwig, "Why are you really here?" Ludwig took off his black cap and wiped his slightly sweaty forehead, "Gilbert told me that from now on I'm to be your bodyguard. If you ever need anything, you can just tell me." I nodded my head understanding, "Why don't you sit down and rest a little while? I'm sure that you've been working a lot harder now that I'm here."  
Ludwig shook his head, "I can't, I have to be ready and alert in case something happens." I huffed a little and said, "Oh come on, Ludwig, I'm pretty sure that nobody will be attacking us anytime soon." After looking back at the entrance to the garden, Ludwig finally sat down beside me. He took off his hat and laid it in the soft grass, "So could you tell me about yourself?" I asked him. For the rest of that evening we both talked to each other for such a long time that I lost track of time. It was like both of us were old friends who hadn't talked in years.

It wasn't long before we heard a grunt of disapproval behind us. Ludwig and I turned around to face Roderich scowling at both of us, "I believe Master Gilbert left you in charge of protecting the princess, not for relaxing." He crossed his arms, "Get up and stop chatting like immature kids." Ludwig scowled coldly at Roderich and stayed seated, "You are not the king; I don't take orders from you." He growled.  
The brunette just scoffed, "But I am his right hand man." He sneered,  
"Lügner, Francis is his right and Antonio is his left. You're nothing compared to them both." Roderich growled in anger and turned his back towards us, "Gilbert shall be informed about this." Ludwig mumbled, "Fine, tell him. See if I care." As Roderich walked away I jumped up and rushed towards him, grabbing his arm in the process saying, "Mr. Roderich, please don't blame Ludwig. It was my fault, I asked him to talk with me."

The uptight man just snarled and jerked his arm away from my hand, "I don't need to hear your excuses."  
That was when I furrowed my eyebrows in anger, "Look Roderich, ever since I've been here I've put up with your sneer, rude attitude, and to tell you the truth I'm sick of it! You need to learn to accept the fact that I'm going to be your new queen and Gilbert's new wife. Do you understand?" Roderich's face read shock and suddenly I heard someone say, "Kesesesese! I guess she showed you, Roddy!"

It was Gilbert. He had his arms crossed and I noticed that he didn't wear his long black coat. Gilbert walked to me saying, "I see that you and mein klein bruder had a nice conversation." I nodded my head gratefully. I noticed Ludwig stand up on his feet and face his older brother,  
"Is everything alright, Gilbert?" He asked, "Yes, everything is okay bruder. I'm just gonna be taking Kandake for a while." And with that he took his hand in mine saying, "Excuse us." And we both walked away, I turned around to face Ludwig's depressed stare watching us both as we left in silence.

**A/N: I was really disappointed with the way that this chapter turned out, and I felt like it was kinda boring. The only part that I really liked was when Ludwig and Kandake had their "little" chat with each other. I must also add that that perticular scene was the most challenging part to write in this whole chapter alone. The next chapter might/ might not feature a lemon in it, depending on how well the story follows what I've already written down.**

**Here are your translations:**

**Willkommen zu Hause- Welcome home (German)  
Lügner- Liar (German)  
mein klein bruder- My little brother (German)  
Moeder- mother (Afrikaans)  
Foeder- father (Afrikaans)**


	4. Chapter 3

I walked behind Gilbert with his hand in mine and asked, "Where are we going?" He replied, "To the ballroom. Kandake, have you ever danced before?" I shook my head honestly, "Don't worry. Today I will teach you."

I felt a smile creep up on my lips. I had always wanted to dance! My heart started to beat faster as we approached a large room with a large crystal chandelier and a doors that held different types of statues, swords, and other types of antiques. Candles illuminated the room and shone off the chandeliers and the glass windows. When I placed my foot on the marble flooring I could hear them softly echo throughout the room, Gilbert's followed suit a few steps later. "Amazing…" My voiced echoed.

"Kandake…"

I spun around towards Gilbert who extended his hand towards me,

"…take my hand."

I hesitantly took it and he walked backwards and led me to the center of the ballroom. Gilbert took my left hand and placed it on his right shoulder, "Make sure you keep your hand here." He reminded me, and placed his right hand on my hip. I slightly cringed, _"Don't think about it… he's different from **him**." _I thought to myself, "Just look at me and let me lead you." Gilbert assured me and I looked into his red orbs of passion, "I won't let you go."

I nodded my head with trust. All of a sudden I heard a piano start to play and I turned around. Roderich was sitting at the grand piano playing a classical piece with Elizabetá standing next to him smiling. Gilbert took a right step towards me, I took a step back with my left. He took another step backwards with his left and I stepped towards him with my right. "That's it! You're doing great!"

When the piano song sped up we both started dancing faster and faster like there was nobody else in the world, except for us two. Without warning I felt Gilbert grab my hips and lift me up in the air, I yelped in surprise but then I crashed into a fit of laughter, as did he. It wasn't until that moment when I noticed Roderich had stopped playing and were staring at us the whole time. When Gilbert put me down I looked at how close his face was to mine, "Kandake…" He whispered as he slid his right hand behind my back.

My heart began to pick up speed whilst memories of **him** flashed through my head. I could just see him—those eyes… those demonic purple eyes shone in my mind. I shrieked in fear and pushed him away with a horrid look on my face and tears stinging my eyes. I sank to my knees, and in addition, commenced on hugging myself as well as shutting my eyes in fear.

"Kandake, what's wrong?" Gilbert asked as I started juddering in fear. I noticed Elizabeta and Roderich run to my aid,  
"Please don't hurt me!" I screamed in terror and shook my head.  
"I won't hurt you!" Gilbert tried to say, but his voice sounded disorted in my mind. Instead I heard **his** voice and saw his eerie smiling face staring right at me. "No! Stay away from me!" I shouted even louder as more tears fell down.  
"Kandake, open your eyes and look at me." The voice said and I followed his command. My dark blurred vision cleared and Gilbert's worried face stared back at me, "Are you alright?" He asked,  
"Gilbert I…" I couldn't hold back the tears that burned once more and buried my face in his shirt, sniffling.  
"Kandake... what ha-?"  
"I could see him staring at me with those eyes!" I looked back at him, "I was so terrified!" I said as I buried my face back in his chest. He turned to Elizabetá and Roderich and they walked out of the room leaving us by ourselves,  
"Kandake, what happened?" Gilbert asked,  
"I saw ***sob*** his face!"  
"Whose face? What happened?" Gilbert questioned.  
"He tried to kiss me when I was younger and ***sob*** I wouldn't let him! He told me that he wouldn't hurt me or any of us but he lied and took over our home!" "Shh, it's alright Kandake. Don't be afraid." My fiancée assured me whilst rubbing my back. Gilbert lifted up my chin and my tearstained eyes met his, "As long as I live I won't let anyone hurt you. I will protect you, Kandake. Do you understand?" He looked so stern and determined, almost even more then Ludwig normally does. I personally knew that I could trust him and felt the tears stop.

Gilbert placed his hands on my forearms and helped me up on my feet. With a flick of his hand he wiped away my tears and started back at me with those lustful eyes of his. He slid his right hand behind my hips again and I slightly winced, "I won't hurt you Kandake because…" He leans his lips closer to me and I notice how his voice lowers to a whisper. "…because I love you."

At that very moment I felt his lips clash against my own. The taste of beer lingered on them but I kind of… enjoyed it. Passion overtook me and I wrapped my arms around his neck kissing him deeper.  
"I love you too." I whispered as I kissed him again. My heart was picking up even faster and I felt flutters in my stomach. When we finally parted for air I blushed and looked at Gilbert's eyes,  
"Do you feel safer now?" He asks and I nod gratefully.  
"Thank you." I whispered.

"Excuse me." A voice piped up behind us and we both turned around. I spotted the lead soldier who attacked my sister and kissed me stand at the doorway to the ballroom, "Permission to enter?" He asked quietly,  
"Permission granted." Gilbert said as the soldier hesitantly walked towards me and kneeled on his left knee. "I'm sorry… for what I had done to you and your sisters on the plantations, your grace! I understand if you are still angry with me! As a knight under the Beilschmit household, my punishment, of which you may desire, will be severe and excruciating!" He shut his eyes, waiting for his penalty. But I just stood there in shock. I kneeled down and placed my hand on his cheek. The soldier—or Matthias I believe was his name- looked back at me with fear but I just simply said,

"I will not punish you, Matthias."

His eyes turned from shock to confusion, "W-What? How could you forgive me so easily?"  
I smiled, "I don't carry grudges." Matthias smiled nervously, "Please stop kneeling, Matthias. I not queen yet." I assured and the soldier quickly stood on his feet.

"Thank you, Miss Sitota." Matthias said as he bowed respectfully and exited the ballroom the same time that Roderich, Elizabetá and Ludwig rushed back inside, "Is Mistress Sitota alright?" Ludwig asked; I nodded calmy and gave him a reassuring smile,  
"Yes don't worry, bruder." Gilbert said as he wrapped his arms around me, "Kandake is alright." He followed up with a kiss on my cheek.  
"I'm glad." Ludwig said quietly.

Elizabetá rushed over to my side and said, "How are you feeling now? Are you sick?" I shook my head,  
"Elizabetá, I'm fine."  
"Really? I would say otherwise, mon chére." A person with a French sounding accent said from behind us. Everyone turned around and faced a man with wavy, glossy blonde hair, lustfilled blue eyes, and stubble on his chin. He wore a bright blue cloak and I raised my eyebrow wondering who this man was and what did he want,  
"Who are you?" I asked. He walked towards me and kneeled down on his knee whilst taking my hand in the process.  
"Belle dame, I am Francis Bonnefoy, the house cook." Francis gave my hand a kiss and said seductively, "I hope to see you during dinner." I noticed Ludwig's eyes stare at the man with a humorless expression,

"I see that you still haven't changed." Gilbert said laughing, "Francis, this is my fiancée, Kandake Sitota." I curtsied,  
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Bonnefoy." Francis smiled and asked Gilbert,  
"Uhm, Gilbert? Has Antonio returned from his trip yet?" Gilbert shook his head,  
"I haven't seen him, yet. But I heard that he's sure to return in a few more days time."

Francis looked back at me and said, "I hope you enjoy my cuisine. We are going to have a spectacular array of baguettes, pot au feu, and steak au poivre tonight, I cannot wait for a beauty such as yourself to taste it." I nodded my head and Francis bowed, "That will be all for now, Gilbert and Misstress Kandake. I will see you both in a short while." The Frenchmen walked away from both of us,  
"Misstress Kandake, we have to go get you washed up for dinner." Elizabetá said to me as she led me towards the exit. Faintly I could hear Ludwig and Gilbert talking to each other and asking questions about what I was screaming and crying about the moment before and I looked down to the floor, ashamed about my actions.

GILBER'S POV

I watched as my fiancée walked away with her chambermaid and Ludwig asked me, "What happened to Kandake, Gilbert?"  
I continued watching her until both women were gone from my sights, "She…had a bad memory." I replied.  
"Of whom?" I heard his voice get more serious, "She wouldn't tell me." He cleared his throat and looked at Kandake. "I hope she'll be alright."

**A.N.: Sorry if this chapter was kinda short, I wanted to finish it as quickly as possible. Hope you enjoyed it. Btw, I'm sorry that there was not a lemon in this chapter but by the way the story is going there won't be one in a few more chapters. But I will tell you this peice of info, whatever chapter the wedding is in that's where the lemon will be. ;)**

**Translations:**

**Bruder- brother (German)**

**Mon cherie- my dear (French)**

**Belle dame- beautiful lady (French)**


	5. Chapter 4

I STAYED UP UNTIL 1:40 IN THE MORNING WRITING THIS STORY SO YOU BETTER READ IT! XD Lol, jk. But seriously it's 1:40 a.m. and I'm tired as hell. Plz review! *Runs off to get some sleep*

GILBERT'S POV

I stood by the stairwell patiently with Ludwig and Roderich, eager as to what my wife-to-be would be wearing for dinner. "Has she arrived yet?" Roderich asked irritably and I shook my head. Then out of the corner of my eye I saw Kandake standing at the top of the stairs, glowing. She wore a pink dress with laces on the hems and a ribbon that wrapped around her waist and formed a bow in the back. "I swear Kandake, everything you wear makes you look like a gift from God." I noticed her blush slightly and smile. "Thank you, Gilbert." She said and I took her arm in mine and we both walked towards the dining hall

KANDAKE'S POV

I couldn't help but notice the stare.

When I took Gilbert's arm I noticed him slightly flash a look at Ludwig before we walked together throught the ever-so-large hallway. I shook my head and shrugged it off, _"I must've just been imagining things." _Then I remembered that there was something else that was boggling my mind, "When exactly are we getting married?"I accidently said out loud and I covered my mouth in embarrassment. Gilbert laughed his odd little laugh and said, "Don't worry,_ mein frau_. We'll discuss the matter at dinner."

When we headed towards a room with two large wooden doors I couldn't help hearing a barrage of shouts coming from the kitchen, which we had seemingly passed._ "Quel est le problème avec vous? ! Que voulez-vous dire que vous avez brûlé les pommes de terre? Vous idiot! Si Gilbert découvre c'est votre cul sur la ligne!"Shouted a foreign voice which I could only guess was Francis's. I couldn't help but start to quietly laugh to myself, "Kesesesese! Francis is such a diva!"Gilbert said laughing, "He'll fall apart if there's a first off cloud!" "I heard that you jerk!" Francis shouted from the other room._

When the two doors opened I looked at how amazing the room was. The room was covered with wooden floors, and a large candle chandelier hanging at the top of the ceiling. The table was long and was colored a deep brown, as were the chairs which also had a royal red seat cushion on each. On the table I noticed that there were candelabra's lined up equally across the center as well as plates set out in front of each chair.

When we walked towards the chairs Gilbert led me to the seat beside the center one and pulled it out for me. I sat down with Gilbert on my right and Ludwig on his right. It was a while before Francis and a few other people came into the room with the first course of our meal. The servers set down bowls in front of each of us and poured some sort of soup into them with a ladle. I looked at the vegetables that floated around inside with great inquisitiveness, Francis told me that there were slices of bell peppers, tomatoes, onions, garlic, zucchini (although Francis called them courgettes), and some sort eggplant (I could tell he was about to freak out when he told me that they were called aubergines). The dish was called Ratatouille and it was delicious! I just had to hold myself back from eating any more to save some room for the main course. "Gilbert?" I said as I turned to my husband, "I want to know when we're going to get married."

The silver haired man turned to me and said, "Right," He cleared his throat and smiled, "Two days!" My eyes nearly popped out of my head, "Two days? H-How do you plan to have everything finished in two days?" "Kandake!"He interrupted with a smug grin, "I can and will have the wedding ready in two days," Gilbert placed his hand on mine and held it, "Just trust me."

I look back at Gilbert's calm face and couldn't help but smile, "Alright." I replied softly. "Was there anything else you wanted to ask?" I nodded and blurted out,

"My sisters."

He looked at me confused, "Is there something that they need?"

"I want to invite them to our wedding."

Gilbert's smile remained, "Why of course! I was hoping you would." I then blushed and said, "And I was hoping…if it isn't too much that… I could visit them tomorrow morning." "_Alles für dich, Kandake, anything for you." He kissed me on the cheek._

When our soups were finally taken Francis placed another bowl of some sort of stew in front of us, "And now for the main course, Pot au feu. Bon appetite!" the Frenchman smiled joyously and winked at me. The rest of the dinner Gilbert and I both talked about what our plans for the wedding would be and how we wanted things to look. Before we both knew it the clock rang seven times and Roderich interrupted us, "Gilbert, the meeting."

I looked at Roderich then back at Gilbert confused, "What meeting?" Gilbert replies saying, "I'm sorry, Kandake, but there's an important meeting that I must attend right now. I hope that you'll understand." I nodded my head and sighed, "I understand." Gilbert pushed out his chair and then helped me out of mine, "Elizabeta, get Miss Kandake her nightware so she can get ready for bed."

My eyes shot open in surprise, "Wha-What? I have to go to sleep now? But it's only seven o'clock!" I stated and Elizabeta put a hand on my shoulder, "Yes, but look at your eyes, Kandake. You look tired." "Elizabeta, I'm fine, I don't need any sleep right now." I tried to argue but she still insisted the same thing, then I told myself, _"Stop arguing like a child and just leave! Don't let Gilbert see you like this!" _and sighed, defeated. "Alright." We each left the room until we got to a fork in the hallway. I watched Gilbert go to the left and I followed Elizabeta to the right. But then I looked behind me at Ludwig and Roderich who followed Gilbert,_"Where are they going?" _I asked myself and looked back at Elizabeta and Lili who were chatting away about something that I probably never know about.

I took one step back, then another, before finally I turned around and walked quickly and quietly to the other hallway. Luckily, my chambermaids didn't even notice that I had snuck away. I had to hand it to myself, those 10 years of poverty did do some good and came in handy for once. I never thought I'd use these skills again, unlike back in **those **times. I remembered when I had to steal some food for all of us because some of our crops ran dry, and there wasn't enough for all of us to eat. Barika had gotten sick from exhaustion and there wasn't any food left for any of us. So that night I left for the town market,pennyless, and snuck over to the nearest food stand I could. Luckily, it was filled with nothing but vegetables and fresh fruits so I took as much as I could carry before anyone saw me. Thanks to me, Barika soon healed and there was enough food for the rest of us for a few days.

I snapped out of my trance and looked at a doorway with a reddish curtain hanging from it. I noticed Roderich walk through it followed by Gilbert, Ludwig, and some other blonde guy with green eyes and short hair, he had a stern look on his face. When I walked towards the curtain to the second pair of doors inside I felt an arm grab me,

"Where do you thinkyou're going?" The short haired blonde man asked,

"I'm going to the meeting," I replied, "Excuse me." I tried walking around him but the stern looking person walked in front of me, I tried again but he did the same thing, "I'm sorry, but you are not allowed here." I felt my eyebrows furrow, "Let me in!" I ordered. Gilbert and Ludwig suddenly looked from behind the curtain and asked, "What's going on?" Gilbert saw me and asked, "Kandake, what are you doing here?"

"I'm trying to enter the meeting but your guard won't let me pass." Gilbert then laughed. I felt my heart sink in surprise,

**HE laughed at me.**

**He was laughing at me.**

"Kesesesese! Kandake, women aren't allowed to participate in politics!" "Gilbert I-I don't understand. If I'm going to be queen I must know about the laws of my people. I want to learn everything that there is to know about your land and economics." Gilbert just shook his head, placed his hand on my shoulder, and said, "I'm sorry, Kandake. But I can't let you in." I watched in shame as he walked back into the room followed closely by the blonde guard who scowled at me and muttered, "Senseless woman." Then I felt a large hand grab my shoulder, I looked up and saw Ludwig staring back at me, "I'm sorry." He said. When I opened my mouth to reply that's when I noticed something.

His eyes… they kept wandering to the left **_(his left, my right)_** and were doing double-takes. That was when I got the message, he was leading me somewhere! I looked slightly to my right and said quietly, "Okay." And walked off opposite of the direction that his eyes led me to. After Ludwig walked through the curtains and I heard the doors slam shut I scurried quietly towards the right. I followed the hallway there until I saw a small peephole and peeked through it. I looked at all the people inside. I saw Roderich, Gilbert, Ludwig, the guard guy, Francis, and another man who had bushy eyebrows, dirty messy blonde hair, green eyes, and wore a long red coat, when I looked again at the man's clothes I realized that he was a pirate! _"What's a pirate doinghere?" _I asked myself when suddenly I heard Ludwig say, "Alright, this meeting has now officially begun."

Roderich stood up from his seat and said, "I motion that we begin with the most important issue at hand, those demon douche battalions!" The blonde guard raised his hand and replied, "I second the motion." Gilbert nodded his head, "Motion carried. You may speak, Roderich." I looked back at Roderich and he said, "I was at the market this morning," He curled his fingers in anger, "they're getting closer, too close in fact that I fear for the kingdom." The guard stood from his seat and said, "I saw caught one of them sneaking near the castle but they left once I spotted, and must I add shot, at them."

_"'Them?' Who's 'them'?" I thought then the pirate man stood up, "Not to mention that their naval defenses have gotten stronger," he spoke in a british accent as he grabbed the handle of his sword, "Last month, we almost lost half of our-." "Why am I not surprised, Arthur?" Francis interrupted, "Your so-called fleet of misfits isn't exactly the fit with the best fighters."_

The pirate, or Arthur, turned towards Francis with an angry expression and shouted,"Oh shut it, you git! Your fleet wouldn't even last a second against mine!" "I beg to differ!" France retorted. "THAT IS ENOUGH!" I heard Ludwig shout as he banged his fist on the table, "We have more important things to worry about other than who's army is the strongest!" The two arguing men sat back down but continued to stare at each other, angrily. "What about that new wife of yours, Gilbert?" The guard asked and Gilbert turned to look at him, "Kandake? What about her, Vash?" The guard, or Vash, crossed his arms, "I mean the fact that she wanted to come in here and listen to politics, and economics."

Arthur, Francis, and Roderich gasped, "What? A woman in politics? How unspeakable and improper! I knew that she was trouble when I first saw her!" My heart sank. Trouble? How could they think of me as trouble when all I wanted to do was talk about their laws? I heard everyone inside of the room suddenly start to snicker until finally the hot-tempered pirate burst out into a laughing fit, "What a senseless woman!" He said out loud. Everyone else followed suit, "I'd be damned before I see a woman in this here room!" Vash shouted joyously.

I looked at all of the men laughing at me, and I felt disgrace spread through me. I looked at my fiancée for guidance and even he was laughing along with them. That's when I observed that everyone was laughing, except for Ludwig.

Gilbert playfully hit Ludwig's right arm saying, "You do agree, don't you bruder?" "No." The stern eyed man said and suddenly everyone got quiet for the moment, with shock written all over their faces. Any sign of their joking behavior was wiped clean off their expressions. The room was so quiet that I could've heard a pin drop. "What did you say?" Roderich asked staring at Ludwig, "I don't think that it's idiotic for a woman to be influenced with politics," He replied calmly, "They're people too."

I felt a cold chill run through my body, _"He-He agrees with me?" Then I heard Francis scoff, "Well that's just-." Ludwig shot him a stare and Francis bit his lip, "N-Never mind."_

I felt a small smile creep on my face, "Thank you." I whispered, "What?" Asked Roderich and he turned around quickly. I, catching my mistake, quickly covered my mouth with my hands and moved away from the peephole, "Did you hear something?"He asked and I heaved a silent sigh of relif due to the fact that he didn't see me. _"Now, hopefully that won't happen agai-."_

"Mistress Kandake!"

A voice shouted. I cringed and turned around to face Elizabeta with her hands on her hips, "What do you think you're doing?" I heard a door opening and all the men from the meeting ran out of the room, "What's going on?"Arthur asked. "Appearantly, Miss KAndake was listening in on your meeting, unnoticed."Elizabeta told them scowling at me.

I looked at all of the men with anger as they started slightly backing away from me in shame and embarrassment from what they had said before, leaving Ludwig and Gilbert. "Miss Kandake, let's go. We have to get you ready for bed." Elizabeta said strictly and I followed her, just wanting to get away from my fiancée before I said something I knew I'd live to regret.

-LATER-

I slipped into a pink nightgown with dark pink frills near my collar and followed Elizabeta into one of the many guest rooms. It was large with a queen sized bed that had a white bedspread, and fluffy pillows to match. There was a mahogany antique dresser, a large closet with quite a few dresses and shoes inside, and a large mirror at the side. "Here is your room, Miss Kandake." Elizabeta said. I sat down on the bed and pulled the blanket over me, silently whispereing a "thank you." "Do you need anything before you go to bed?" Elizabeta asked me. I shook my head slowly. "Okay then," She went to the lamp that lit up my room and blew it out, "Good night." I replied back with the same words quietly, _"How could they say those things about me?"How could they? And why did he agree with them?" I quarreled inside my mind and the words echoed in my mind:_

_Senseless woman… senseless woman…_

I buried my face deep into my pillow, "I am not a senseless woman." I said to myself and I felt myself drifting off to sleep.

Suddenly, in the middle of the night, I heard my door reopen and I turned around to see who it was,

"Kandake?"

A familiar German voice said; I laid my head back down on my pillow and turned away from that one particular person, Gilbert. "Are you awake?" He asked quietly, "I am now." I said sternly, with no emotion at all. He walked behind me and said, "Kandake… I'm sorry about what we said earlier." I didn't say anything, and continued not to look at him. "Kandake, mein liebe, please…look at me." I continued, unresponsive. Gilbert walked around the bed and sat in front of where I had my body turned, "Kandake will you please just look at me?" I turned around again, "I don't want to fight with you, Kandake. I just want to you accept my apology…" He walked over to look at me again, "…please." I turned around again,

"Is that what you think of me?"

I asked, "What do you mean?" Gilbert questioned. Angered, I shot up and looked at him, "Do you really think I'm a senseless woman? Is that what you think of me?" I lashed. Apalled at my sudden anger, Gilbert looked down then back to me and shook his head,

"No."

"Then why were you laughing and agreeing with those-those… pigs! I think that any man who thinks a woman, who wants to know about politics, is unspeakable and improper is as low-down as he is stupid!" I spat. My fiancée just stared at me quietly, "I'll admit," I continued, "I can be a little naïve, but I'm not the stupid woman that you and your friends assume me to be!"

Gilbert nodded his head, "I understand why you're mad," He said quietly followed by a sigh, "and I know…that you're not stupid. You have a mind, a personality…" He stood up and walked towards the door, "…and that's why I fell in love with you." Then Gilbert left the room, closing the door behind him.

I got out of my bed to follow him but then I noticed a long, rectangular box beside my foot. I reached for it and sat down to the bed, curious as to what would lie hidden inside. When I opened it my eyes sparkled… it was a rose, a **crystal**rose. I took the rose out of the box and under it was a small card, it read:

_Kandake, mein liebe,_

_I understand why you are angry with me, so please accept this gift as an apology._

_I had been working on it for some time but never really knew what to do with it when I was finished._

_In time, I hope you can forgive me and cherish this rose made with my bare hands._

_Because with every scorn… with every cut… and with every mark …_

_…I always thought of you._

_Dein liebe,_

_-Gilbert_

I carefully took the rose out of its holder and held it up, the moonlight illuminated off the crystal glass and it shone across the room, _"It's beautiful…" _I suddenly felt guilt wash over me at how I treated Gilbert earlier and sighed, _"I have to apologize to him first thing in the morning." _I thought as I carefully placed the rose back into the box and curled back up inside the bed. I felt sleep overcome me as I thought about one name:

_Gilbert…Gilbert…Gilbert…_

**Translations:**

** mein frau- my wife**

**_Quel est le problème avec vous? ! Que voulez-vous dire que vous avez brûlé les pommes de terre? Vous idiot! Si Gilbert découvre c'est votre cul sur la ligne!"- What is wrong with you? ! What do you mean you burned the potatoes? You idiot! If Gilbert discovers it's your ass on the line!_**

**_Alles für dich- Anything for you_**


	6. Chapter 5

Ch. 4

**~*Wedding planning: day 1*~**

I woke up bright and early when the sun's rays hit my thick, brown locks. Feeling happy I walked to the windows and opened them, inviting the summer breeze into my room and heaved a heavy sigh. "Oh father, I wish you could see me now." I whispered looking up at the gorgeous sunrise with joy. Suddenly I heard a knock come from the door, "Come in," I said.

Lili and Elizabeta entered the room with a surprised look on their faces, "Y-You're already awake?" Lili squeaked and I nodded my head, "But Gilbert's not even up yet!" Elizabeta reminded me.

"Well, I was always an early riser. It's a natural thing." Elizabeta walked towards a closet filled with many dresses, "Well, since you're up, let's get you all washed and ready for the day."

**GILBERT'S POV**  
I awoke to Roderich shaking my shoulder and saying, "Wake up, Gilbert."

With a groan I said, "Just... five more minutes, Roderich. The awesome me needs more sleep." and closed my eyelids.

"That is unacceptable!" My butler shouted in my ear, "Those words are fit for only a lazy pheasent, not an active king!"

I turned by body away from him and groaned, "I'm not a lazy pheasent, I'm just tired..."

"Maybe if you hadn't been in Kandake's room for that late night visit you wouldn't be saying such a thing!" I rolled my eyes from behind my eyelids, "You might mess everything up." He said sternly and I opened my eyes deep in thought,

"Don't worry, I won't," I reminded assured, "Everything will go according to plan." Roderich sighed, "But seriously, Roderich. Five more minutes, and I'll be up." The brunette butler rolled his eyes and walked out of the room, slamming the door in the process. I closed my eyes again thinking about Kandake and how she reacted the gift I gave her last night,

"Just as planned,"

**KANDAKE'S POV**  
Elizabeta led me down the steps, careful not to ruin my long silver dress that covered my feet, towards the dining room where Lili, and Francis were setting up the plates for breakfast. I looked and noticed that neither Gilbert, nor Ludwig, were anyplace to be found. "Elizabeta, where's Gilbert and Ludwig?"

"Gilbert just woke up about 15 minutes ago, and Ludwig is outside training with Vash. He ate a while before you woke up." I sighed, "Would you like to eat right now, Mistress Kandake?"

"It's okay, I'll wait for him."

Lili walked towards the door and said, "I'll tell Sir Francis." then she left. I sat down inside one of the wooden seats quietly, eagerly wondering what I should say to Gilbert when he saw me.

"Excuse me for being nosey, Miss Kandake, but I heard you and Gilbert's little spat last night."

I rubbed the back of my neck, embarrassed, "Was I shouting that loud?" Elizabeta nodded her head. I looked down at the ground in shame, "I'm trying to think of the right thing to say to him once I see him. I just feel awful about the way I acted last night."

Elizabeta kneeled down beside me and placed her hand on my back, "Don't worry, I'm sure that Gilbert will understand and forgive you." She smiled at me and I couldn't help smiling back.

**_CRASH!_**

**"Vous crétin! Sortez de cette cuisine, en ce moment!"**

Suddenly one of the cooks came out of the kitchen running as fast as he could to the door. Francis burst out of the room with death written on his face before clearing his throat, "Excuse my sudden outburst, madam. I've been meaning to fire him for ages."

We heard the courtyard door open and there stood Ludwig wearing a white cotton shirt, black plants, and dark grey boots to match, he looked at me and said, "Miss Kandake, guten morgen."

I smiled back and said, "Guten Morgen, Ludwig!"

Ludwig's lips cracked a small smile before it vanished, "About what happened at the meeting last night, I'm sorry. Don't listen to anything that those idioten say, those dummkopfs are too immature and don't know just what they're talking about." I nodded my head quietly remembering all of the things that those men said about me,

_"What?! A woman in politics? How unspeakable and improper!  
_

_"What a senseless woman!"__  
_

_"I'd be damned before I see a woman in this here room!"_

Ludwig looked at my sad face, "Hey," He said as I looked into his depressed blue eyes, "Cheer up, everything will be alright." Ludwig placed a hand on my shoulder, smiling slightly. I couldn't help but smile back before we heard someone clear their throat, both of us turned around to face Roderich scowling at both of us, "Is my bruder still asleep? It's late in the morning!"

"Keep your shirt on, Ludwig, I'm awake." I heard a voice say.

Suddenly we heard a pair of footsteps walking down the long flight of stairs and looked towards the noise. My heart began fluttering when I noticed my fiancee walking down the steps wearing a white cotton shirt with a black vest and the same pants and boots as Ludwig, "Guten Morgen, Kandake." Gilbert said as he approached me, cautious if I was going to yell at him like I did last night.

"Gilbert, there's something I have to-."

"Kandake," I watched as he took my hand into his and said, "Kandake, I deeply apologize about the way that I acted last night," Gilbert sat on his knees, grasped my hand in his other rough one, and placed his head on my hand, "Please forgive me, mein liebster."

I looked at him then at Elizabeta and Roderich. Elizabeta smiled at me and nodded. I turned back to Gilbert, raised his head up, and kissed his forehead softly, "I already have." I told him. Gilbert stood up and surprisingly hugged me, "Danke." He whispered.

**GILBERT'S POV**  
While hugging my fiancee I shot a look at Ludwig, who stared back at us bleakly, before flashing a small grin at him. My younger bruder cleared his throat before I turned to Roderich, "What's the schedule for today?" I let go of Kandake and we walked over to the table. I pulled out Kandake's seat first before I sat down,

"You have quite a busy day ahead of you," the stuffy brunette began, "First you have to choose the bride's dress, send out invatations, get fitted for the wedding outfits, cater, find the venue, make the food, pick out the flowers, find the maid of honor, and apply the decorations." I nodded my head, "Well then we better get started."

Francis walked out of the kitchen with two plates with three croissants on each, "Enjoy!" He sang heartily before gliding back inside of the kitchen.

**KANDAKE'S POV**  
The smell of our food was enough to snap me out of my dizzy trance from all of the things we had to do. I heard Gilbert say, "Don't worry about Kandake's dress, I have the perfect one." I eyed him curiously before taking a bite out of the croissant.

"What about the maid of honor?" Elizabeta asked,

"My sister Sade will be the maid of honor." I told her,

"Very well then," Roderich said, "I've called the messenger to deliver all the invitations for relatives and friends." He turned to me, "Miss Kandake, do you have anybody else that you would like to invite?"

I wiped my face off with a napkin, "Besides my sisters, I would also like to invide Sadik, the owner of the plantation. I want him to be there."

I noticed Roderich flash a slightly disgusted look before he turned around and said, "Very well." He walked out of the dining room. "Why does he always act that way towards me?" I asked Gilbert,

"I told you, Kandake, he's always been like that."

I shook my head, "No, I think there's a reason for his attitude and why he acts so rude to me," I stood up from my chair, "Excuse me." I followed Roderch into the hallway,

"Kandake..." I heard Gilbert say.

Once I was away from everybody else I placed my hand on Roderich's shoulder, stopping him in his midtracks, "I need to talk to you." My voice echoed through the halls,

"What do you want?" Roderich sneered, refusing to look at me.

"What is wrong with you? Why do you act so rude around me?"

He slapped my hand of his shoulder, "Let go of me, damn it! I don't need your concern, wench!" I backed away a little, startled by his words, "You think you're so special just because you got to have a royal title added to your name in one day, but your not! Unlike you I had to work to get nobility! So don't act like you've had it so hard in your life!"

I watched as he started walking away from me again, "So you hate me because of my title? Is that it?" Roderich stopped in his tracks, "I understand that you've probably had a hard life to deal with in the past, and I have too, but we both have to learn to let go of it and move on."

He scoffed, "My past is something I'll never let go of," Roderich continued walking, "Just worry about your buisness and leave mine alone." And with that he was gone behind another set of doors.

"Fine then." I said, my voice echoing through the halls as I turned back around and walked back towards the dining room, _"My past is something I'll never let go of..."_ I could remember hearing the hate in his voice, _"There's something about his past that's troubling him... I have to find out sometime soon."_

After breakfast, Gilbert, Ludwig, and I walked outside of our home towards our prepared carriage, that was willing to take all of us to see my sister. Gilbert and I walked side by side with his arm wrapped around my shoulder, "I can't wait for you to meet my family!" I said with a large smile.

Gilbert looked at me and kissed my cheek, "As am I." He smiled and showed me his perfect white teeth. I leaned on his chest and he kissed my hair. Suddenly we noticed a large brown stallion running towards us, with Matthias on its back, holding the reins to a white and grey spotted horse. He stopped the horse in front of us,

"Prince Gilbert, our guards have spotted an army of theives heading towards the city!" I gasped and Gilbert held me closer as the guard continued, "We need your help, your majesty! And fast!"

Gilbert nodded and looked at me saying, "I'm gonna be gone for a while, Kandake. I'm afraid that I can't go with you to meet your sisters." My heart dropped at what he had said.

"Why can't we just wait for you?"

"I would be too risky for you to stay. Our opponents are very sneaky, and I wouldn't want you to get caught in the middle of this."

He placed his hand on my cheek, and I stared back at him. I wanted to insist on staying but, understanding the lives at stake in his kingdom, I nodded my head with a sad face. "Just please be careful." I stated. Gilbert nodded,

"Prince Gilbert!" Matthias shouted,

"Hold on!" My fiancee shouted back before giving me a small peck on my forehead and jumped on the horse.

Before he could leave Ludwig stepped in front of me, "Bruder, with these quarrells between those theives getting worse, I think that maybe I should-."

"No." Ludwig looked at him questionably, "You go with Kandake to make sure that she'll be alright on the way."

"Kandake, I promise I'll make it up to you!" He winked at me, "The awesome me doesn't break his promises!" I forced myself to smile as the horse started galloping off, closely followed by Matthias. "Please...be safe." I whispered as I watched him, my smile drooping ...while thinking of my father.

"He'll come back," Ludwig said. "Don't worry, Kandake, Gilbert's a great fighter." I didn't say anything while my eyes didn't leave Gilbert's back, "Come on," Ludwig said once he placed his large hand on my shoulder, "Let's go see your family, they must be worried sick about you." I nodded quietly and walked over to the carriage.

I stared outside worried about Gilbert's health. "Kandake..." Ludwig said, breaking the silence, "...Gilbert will be fine, I promise."

"You can't guarentee his health, Ludwig. I'm just worried because... I fear that he won't be coming back."

"I know about what happened with your father, and I know you're scared Kandake. But trust me when I say that Gilbert knows what he's doing."

My eyes wandered back to Ludwig's concerned ones, "You're right. I shouldn't be worrying so much." Ludwig managed to sneak a smile in as well.

"Can I ask you a question?" I nodded at his request, "Could you tell me a little about your sisters, like thier names and personalities so I'll know them."

I could tell that he was trying to keep my mind off of Gilbert so I wouldn't worry as much, "Okay," I turned my body around to face him, "You already know Sade, my biological sister who's stern, very buisness oriented, doesn't take any crap from anybody. Then there's Jewel, she's very silly, and hyper at times, and is never afraid to say what she feels is right."

"What does she look like? Was she the one with the auburn hair styled in a bun?"

I shook my head, "No, no, no, that was Fatima. As for Jewel, she has blonde hair like yours."

"Oh, okay." Ludwig nodded,

"Now for Fatima, yes, she has auburn hair, but talk about unruly! She's even more chatty and wild then Jewel is on a normal level! So don't be surprised if she starts chatting your ear off when you meet her."

He continued nodding silently, "I'll say, she's the exact opposite of her twin, Vanessa. Whereas Fatima is loud, can sometimes be obnoxious, chatty, and sweet, Vanessa is quiet, delightful, formal, yet a bit bitter, also she has black hair as opposed to Fatima's auburn."

"Ich sehe." Ludwig then placed his hand on his chin, "There were others right?"

I nodded yes, "Yeah! There's also Barika, who's very active and hardworking. Normally whenever there's work to be done she's always the first one to finish, but stays behind to wait for us all. She's just about as chatty as Fatima, if not a just little bit more. Another thing I must add is, she loves to learn. So chances are she'll be looking around the place and asking people about the paintings and the statues."

"Okay, any others?"

I thought for a second, "Yes, three more. Cheylah, the middle one, is very shy. She does not talk to a lot of people but eventually she'll warm up. Don't find it odd if she pulls out a book and starts reading, because she very scholarly and likes reading about myths and legends. Her favorite types are always Greek or Roman and she tends to trail off in Portuguese, or sometimes Bantu."

"Was? What's Bantu?" Ludwig asked while tilting his head like a confused puppy,

"It was the language of her people. She won't tell me anything other then that." I told him, "Alegria, on the other hand, can't read. She's afraid of words, so don't show her any documents or invitations of some sort. But she loves kids and will most likely help with keeping them occupied and out of the way if the adults are busy. Plus, she loves flowers, and might help with arranging if you wanted her to."

"Alright, and the last one?"

"Eliana. She sometimes hates speaking in English, except with us. But she loves to cook with different types of foods and cuisines. Most likely she'll end up inside of the kitchen helping the chefs with the menus, and might start adding in a few more of her personal recipies. But **be careful**, if one of your party guests get her angry, or says something rude about me or any of us, she won't show it. Just wait a few more minutes, and I guarentee that some sort of valuable piece of jewelry from that person will be missing," I smiled and took a deep breath, "and that's about it."

"Wow," Ludwig said in amazement, "I never really noticed how many of them there actually were. And all of their unique personalities, it just amazes me."

I smiled, "Yes, I agree that they each are amazing in their own special way." My eyes wandered outside when I noticed herds of people picking things like fruits, vegetables, grains, etc. I searched desperatly for at least one of my sisters, then a thought came to me, "Wait, Ludwig, what time is it?"

I saw him flip out a silver pocket watch, "It's 1:02 pm. Why?" One o'clock...one o'clock... where would we be at one o'clock? Then I remembered, roots! We had root duty today! My eyes continued to wander while I looked through each of the soil-filled feilds.

"There! I see them!" I pointed as the carriage suddenly stopped. Without warning I reached for the door handle to open the carriage and pushed it, jumping onto the ground once the door was opened. Ludwig followed quickly. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed Fatima and Barika pulling up roots and placing them in a wooden bucket, "Fatima! Barika!" I called. Both girls looked up from their work at me,

"Kandake?" I heard Fatima whimper,

"It's me, Fatima! It's me!" I picked up the skirts of my dress and started running over to my two sisters with joy,

"Uh, Miss Kandake, wait!" Ludwig shouted before running after me, "Be careful, or else you'll fall!"

But I didn't care, I kept running faster and faster with tears of joy in my eyes until I finally reached them. Fatima, Barika, and I hugged each other tightly, "Kandake!" I heard more people call after me and turned around, Eliana, Cheylah, Vanessa, and Alegria all rushed over to my side as well,

"You came back!"

"You kept your promise!"

"We were so worried about you!" They all chimed.

I had never felt happier, but... something was wrong. I looked at each girl and counted 1...2...3...4...5...6? My eyes darted over to behind me and I asked, "Where' s Jewel and Sade?" Suddenly everyone's faces became grim, "Where are they?" I asked again.

Everyone looked at Fatima, "I'm not telling her." She said quietly,

"I'll do it," Barika piped up when she turned back to me,

"Barika, where are Sade and Jewel?" She sighed heavily before saying,

"We don't know." I felt my heart crumble into a million pieces,

"They're gone?" I managed to say and all of my sisters nodded their head.

"You might want to come inside for this." Cheylah told me.

The shack that we used to stay in brought back so many memories. When we entered I remembered that scent of vegetables that coated the room and it brought a small smile to my face, "Please sit, I'll get you both some water," Barika said,

"Wait, where's Vanessa?"

She turned around and Vanessa came running through the door screaming, "Ahhh! Kandake! There's some sort of scary man outside of the door!" I watched as Ludwig came walking through the door calmly looking at me. All of my sisters hid behind me when Ludwig moved towards us,

"It's okay!" I calmly assured all of them, "Ludwig is my bodyguard. He's my friend."

Vanessa walked from behind me and looked at him again. He looked back at my younger sister before she eventually screamed and hid behind me again, "Scary!" She said.

"He's really a nice person, so stop judging him and being afraid. You just have to get used to him."

"Yeah, stop being such a baby Vanessa!" Fatima said as she walked from behind me towards Ludwig and pointed to him, "You better take good care of my sister! Otherwise, I'll come after you and you'll have hell to pay!"

Ludwig nodded and said, "Don't worry, your sister is safe with me."

Fatima placed her hand down by her sides and slightly smiled, "I trust you."

"Alright, now please tell me, what happened to Sade and Jewel." I said, slightly irritated. Barika came in two cups of water and she hands on to me then walks over and gives the second one to Ludwig, who refuses. Suddenly I heard her cry out and drop the cup of water on the ground, "Barika, are you alright?" I asked.

But she didn't budge nor blink as she kept staring at Ludwig, "Bl-Blue eyes..." Barika said with a stutter and quiver in her voice.

I stood up and began walking towards her, worried, "Barika?"

In a flash she reaches out and grabs Ludwig's coat, much to our surprise, and begins shaking him frantically while shouting, "YOU STOLE JEWEL FROM US!" I rushed over, along with Vanessa,

"Barika, stop!" I shouted and pulled her off of my bodyguard. Vanessa held her in her arms as Barika clung on to her for protection. I looked at my sister's horrified expression while she was quivering in Vanessa's arms, "What's wrong with her? What happened?" I asked while Vanessa continued cradling her,

"You have to tell her," She whispered in Barika's ear. Barika nodded nervously but then eyed Ludwig nervously,

"It's okay," I said, placing my hand on her back, "you can trust Ludwig. He won't hurt you." My worried sister continued to stare at him,

"It's okay," He said, "I'll step outside." Ludwig opened the door to the shack and stepped outside. She then sits down in a chair in front of me and sighed,

"It all started the night after you left..."

**FLASHBACK**

~*1 day ago*~

BARIKA'S POV

All of the us stared at the back of the carriage that was moving away from us. Sade scoffed and walked away from all of us angrily muttering something that I could not understand. I sighed and said, "Come on, let's get back to work." I walked back towards the fields and, one by one, each of my family followed suit, except for Fatima. She just stood there watching the carriage, wanting to run after it. "Fatima!" She turned around and looked at me, "Let's go." Fatima took one last glance at the carriage before she followed me back to the fields.

A little while later, I saw Sadik running towards Alegria with a bunch of lilies and a stupid looking grin, asking for Kandake. Her face slightly dropped in sadness, _"Oh, please don't tell me that Alegria's telling him."_ I thought to myself.

Suddenly I watched as she covered her eyes with her arm and she ran away from him.

"Alegria, what's wrong? Where are you going?" Sadik shouted after her.

I walked up to him and asked, "What did you say to her, Sadik?!"

He shook his head, "Nothing! I just wanted to know where Kandake was so I could give her these." Sadik showed me the gift that he had bought, "Do you know where she is, Barika?"

I quickly shook my head and replied, "No."

Sadik's face dropped as he passed the Lilies to me, "Well, if you find her, give these to her."

I watched as he sulked back over to the feilds, "What's wrong with Sadik?" Jewel asked me and I turned around, showing her the lilies in my hands, "Whoa! Did Sadik move on already, Barika?" She followed her statement with a hearty laugh,

"Shut it, Jewel! You know that he meant to give these to Kandake." I said fighting the urge not to laugh myself.

**LATER**

I sat on the ground staring at the multicolored sky, deep in thought, "You're still out here?" Jewel asked me her body next to mine, "You should be inside eating with the rest of us."

I shook my head, "I know, it's just that..." My mind began to wander and I started thinking about my sister, "... I can't stop thinking about Kandake. Truth is, Jewel, I'm worried about her. I mean, what if that man is not who he says he is?"

I felt Jewel wrap her arm around my shoulder, "If he's not then I'm pretty sure that Kandake would have enough sense to leave the bastard and come here. Then we could track his ass down and let him know what happens when you mess with the Sitota household!"

We both got a good laugh at that, "You said it, Jewel!"

Then when our laughter dimmed down I said,"But, I am a little envious of her."

"Really? How so?"

"Kandake gets to get married, and she gets a royal title again!"

"Yeah, that's pretty amazing!"

"But for us, who knows if we'll ever get married! There so many things I want to know, so many questions I want to ask that man. Just thinking about it makes my head spin."

Jewel then looked at the sky and said, "You know... living a high title is nice, but I don't think it's the life for me anymore."

I couldn't believe my ears. I looked at her with the slightest bit of shock, "I thought you wanted royalty, Jewel! What are you saying?"

"I'm saying I don't want the royal life anymore."

"But ten years ago you said that-!"

"Barika, ten years is a long time for some people. And it's given me some time to think about the things I want to do or be, if I am ever freed."

We both stared at the stars when we noticed a shooting one trailing across the sky, "That brings back a memory." I said to Jewel and she nodded,

"Are you gonna make a wish?" she asked,

"Maybe, but remember the wish that Kandake made ten years ago? I'm beginning to think that the whole wishing on stars thing doesn't work like we think it does-."

Jewel shot me a look that said "I know that you wanna to do it" then I sighed, "But I guess it... wouldn't hurt to try." At the same time we both took a deep breath, clamped our hands together like we were saying a prayer, and closed our eyes. "I wish..." We both began,

"...that I can travel and explore the world."

"...that we could each find someone who can take us all away from here."

When we both opened our eyes, the star was gone and the wind began picking up, fast.  
"Come on," Jewel said standing up, "Let's go inside."

**THAT NIGHT**

I woke up from my sleeping mat to hear a loud cluttering noise coming from outside, "Did you hear that?" I asked when Jewel raised her head from her staw mat, in alert.

"I heard it." Cheylah whispered,

"Me too." Eliana said.

"It's probably just a mouse," Sade grumbled angrily, "just go back sleep."

I noticed Jewel walking to the shack door, unsheathing a knife from her dress pocket. The metal glimmered in the moonlight when she placed her back beside the door, waiting anxiously for the trespasser to come out from hiding.

Suddenly the noise was heard again. Everyone turned to look at the door from their sleeping mats, just waiting for something to happen, even Sade had turned around curious as to what the particular noise was,

"M-Maybe we should get Sadik." Alegria quivered,

"Shh!" I said. We couldn't get Sadik, no! We absolutely couldn't! He would just make matters worse, the loudmouth! Plus he doesn't listen to anyone except Kandake and himself!

We waited in silence for what felt like an eternity. With each passing second, the idea of calling Sadik was starting to sound better and better. Suddenly we heard the rattling noise again and we noticed a small shadow by the bottom of the door. I could feel my heart beating loudly, and heard a few whimpers from my sisters. When Jewel looked down by her feet there was a small brown mouse that scurried into the room and started squeaking. We all heaved a heavy sigh of relief, "I told you guys that it was just a mouse." Sade said while pulling her blankets over her shoulders.

"False alarm." Jewel said relieved and walked over to her floor mat and laid back down. Suddenly

_**CRASH!**_

A rock flew into our shack through the window and landed near Vanessa. She screamed. I looked outside and saw people in cloaks and hoods outside, trying to get in. "Hello, ladies." One of them said after poking his head inside.

We scrambled out of our mats and headed for the door, screaming our hearts out.

Alegria, being the first one out ran out to find Sadik as fast as her legs could carry her. "It's an ambush!" A man being chased by a group of men wearing black shouted.

"Come on!" Sadik shouted as he, and some of the guards that watched the front gate, started running towards the strangers with guns, pistols, and knives.

The people in the hoods began chasing us as we scrambled around the plantations, along with many others. Sade ran off on her own, Eliana and Cheylah were together, Vanessa and Fatima were with each other, and I was with Jewel. Smoke from burning buildings filled our noses and we heard gunshots firing fron afar, but we kept running away towards the crop fields. From a distance, I could see a large red flag with some sort of large white bird on it. Who were these people, and what did they want from us?!

When we finally reached the crops we stopped to catch our breath. All of a sudden one of the hooded members, who must've followed us, grabbed hold of me and pinned me to the ground. "Let me go!" I screamed in fear.

Jewel jumped on his back and began punching him in the jaw. When he let us go I heard another one shout, "You let her get away!"

I grabbed her hand and we continued running away from the two strange people. I dared not to look back when I heard a third pair of footstep running behind us and boy was he fast! He jumped up and tackled Jewel, taking me down with her.

She started struggling in his grip and shreiked. I watched in horror as the man threw her over his shoulder. No! He was not going to take my sister away from me! I ran over to him and hurled my body towards him, trying desperately to save my sister. He spotted me somehow and dodged my attack then, the whole world seemed to be going in slow motion as I got a glimpse of his eyes... those cold blue eyes that brought shivers to my body.

All of a sudden I felt something knock me down off my feet and on my back, "Jewel!"

"Barika!"

My sister shouted while still being carried away. In a flash I felt something hard hit me in the back of my head and I fell forward. Voices started distorting in my head and I could barely make out a random persons words that said, "Sorry, love. No hard feelings." I could still hear my sister's screams as my world faded to black.

"Barika...Barika..." A voice echoed in my head. I looked up and saw Jewel standing in front of me holding my shoulders, smiling.

"Jewel?" I breathed out.

"Wake up, Barika. Wake up." Her voice echoed,

"What?" I asked.

"Wake up, Barika..." Her voice and image began fading away in my mind and was replaced with Sadik's,

"Wake up!" He shouted in my face.

"Sadik!" Alegria said.

I looked around and noticed all of my sisters, except Jewel standing in front of me with worried expressions on their faces"Thank goodness you're alright." Vanessa said hugging me.

"We can't find Jewel anywhere!" Cheylah cried,

"Don't worry, Cheylah, we'll find her." Sade said while placing her hands on her shoulders for comfort,

"No we won't." I said, "We'll never find Jewel."

"Barika, why would you say such a thing?"

"Because she was kidnapped!"

Everyone in the room got quiet.

"Y-You're lying..." Sade stuttered.

I shook my head, "Why would I lie about something like this?"

Sadik bit his lip. "Why did they take her?" He asked,

"How the hell am I supposed to know?!" I lashed out at him with tears clouding my eyes,

"Barika, please just calm down." Eliana said trying desperately to calm me down.

I let my tears fall freely before Sadik reached his hand out and placed it on my shoulder, "Don't worry," He said with, for once, a serious face, "we'll find her." He turned around towards everybody and said, "Until then, you all should get some sleep."

I watched as each of the girls began walking back to their mats quietly. I laid back quietly staring at the ceiling until my eyes began drooping.

**END OF FLASHBACK**

**KANDAKE'S POV**  
My hand was over my mouth by the time she finished. I averted my eyes from Barika's gaze and looked outside through the window, lost in thought. "What about Sade?" I asked grimly,

"We don't know," Eliana squeaked, "We suspect that she went after Jewel."

I buried my head in my arms, lost in sadness, and unable to speak any words. That's when Cheylah walked behind me and set his hands on my shoulders for comfort, "It's all my fault, I should've never left. I might've been able to protect her."

"It's not your fault, Kandake." She told me.

The door opened and Ludwig walked back inside, following Fatima, "Ms. Barika, I couldn't help overhearing about what happened. But...could you tell me anything that you saw during the night of the ambush?"

Barika looked at him and winced, "Blue eyes...the man who took Jewel had blue eyes."

Ludwig furrowed his eyebrows a bit, "That could be anyone. Do you remember anything else?"

"Yeah, an eagle. The flag that I saw had some sort of bird that looked like an eagle on it."

"An eagle..." Ludwig then looked at us and said, "...the symbol of the resistance!" He looked down at the floor, "Verdamment..."

"What's wrong?" Fatima asked, "...Monsoon." He breathed out.

"What's that?" Vanessa asked,

"It's a seasonal change in the wind and precipitation, right? I had noticed that the wind had picked up a lot more then usual yesterday."

Cheylah stated,

"Right, but in this case it's something different." Ludwig stated, "For centuries, the resistance has this tradition of, once every 50 years, replacing the head of their clan with a warrior who is either, of age, the best fighter, or has leadership characteristics. They have this coming-of-leadership ritual of choosing one plantaion, which sadly happened to be yours, attacking it, and chapturing either a man or a woman to, not only have them join he resistance, but to also..." He stopped and cringed before continuing, "...help bear their children."

We all gasped. "What's gonna happen to Jewel?" Vanessa asked,

"I-I don't know." I replied before turning to Ludwig, "Where are they now?"

He shook his head, "We don't know, Kandake. They're nomads, they move around every chance they get."

I shook my head, "I will hear none of that, Ludwig! Tell me, where can I find them?!"

"Kandake, I don't know. Nobody knows!" Ludwig told me raising his voice a little,

"Lugner!" I shouted in my bodyguard's foreign language, much to everyone's surprise, "You know where she is! Just tell me!" I looked at him with tear coated eyes,

"Kandake, even if I tried my hardest, I can't find them! There's nothing we can do for now."

I stood up from my seat and grabbed his coat the same way that Barika did, "But you have to find her! She's my sister for God's sake, I don't want anything to happen to her! What if it was your sister that got kidnapped like that? Wouldn't you try to do the same, goddamn it?!"

"I DON'T KNOW HOW TO FIND HER! I DON'T KNOW WHERE THEY TOOK HER! I DON'T KNOW WHERE THEIR HIDEOUT IS! I DON'T KNOW WHER THEY ARE!" Ludwig shouted in my face.

Everyone in the room, including myself, jumped at the sound of Ludwig's shouting. _"He's never shouted at me before..."_ I thought to myself. I looked down at the floor in shame, "I'm sorry...Ludwig." I whispered before he placed both hands on my shoulders,

"Don't worry. I promise to do whatever I can to find both them and your sister as quickly as possible."

I nodded my head, then in a flash I hugged him tightly, "Vielen Dank... Ludwig." My body was then embraced by his strong arms, "It'll be alright, mein frauchen." He said. After a few seconds we let each other go.

"Oh by the way, Sadik wanted me to give these to you." Vanessa said with a goofy grin as she held up a bunch of lilies.

I sighed, rolled my eyes, an then chuckled, "That idiot will never learn, will he?" I said to myself.

"Learn what?" Alegria asked, eager to know,

"Learn that I don't love him and to move on."

I saw her eyes slightly brighten up even though she tried her best to hide it, "We're really glad that you came to see us, Kandake," Fatima said hugging me,

"And I'm glad to see all of you." I replied hugging her back before being embraced by the rest of my sisters. Ludwig smiled at all of us before I extended a hand out to him in friendship; he shook his head.

"I should not be in the presence of such a wonderful family, I... am not honorable like the rest of you." He said before walking us all to the door and opening it. We were greeted by the warm summer breeze once more when we excited the small shack, and walked over to my carriage that was surprisingly closer then before.

Everything was going well until I heard a voice in front of me, "Kandake?" I looked up, "Kandake is that you?" The voice said again.

I winced...Sadik.

He rushed over to me and in the blink of an eye was hugging me, slightly crushing the lilies that were in my hand. I saw Ludwig shoot a dissapproved glance at Sadik, "Where have you been?" He asked before pulling away and looking at me, "I was so worried about you!"

Sadik looked at my clothes and touched one of my hair curls that hung down by my chin, "What happened to you?" Then he looks at my clothes, "You look amazing! Where did you get the money to buy this stuff?"

A deep red blush rushed across my cheeks before he turned and looked at Ludwig with a frown on his contempt expression, "Who are you?"

Ludwig extended his hand out in friendship, "I am Ludwig Beilschmidt of the Beilschmidt household."

Sadik slapped his hand away, "Kandake, who is this aptal?" He asked me,

"He's... my bodyguard."

"Bodyguard?! What do you need a bodyguard for?"

"To protect her, kijinga!" Barika shouted back at him,

"Barika, it's okay. I can handle this." I told my sister,

"Did you like the flowers? Are you ready to accept my offer?" Sadik asked with hope in his voice.

I sighed, "That's what I'm here to talk to you about, Sadik," then I shook my head, "I can't marry you."

"Nedir? What do you mean you can't marry me? I love you!"

"But I don't love you!" I shouted back,

"Kandake..." I turned away from him,

"There's someone else."

He then placed his hands on my shoulders and turned me around, "Stop turning away from me and look at me, Kandake! You know I love you! Why would you do such a thing?!"

"I'm getting married Sadik, get over it!" I shouted, "I don't love you, Sadik, and deep down inside, for the past 10 years, you've always known that!" I took the bundle of lilies in my hand and placed them back in his arms, "I'm sorry..." I said quietly.

Sadik took the flowers with a slightly sad expression on his face as I walked past him towards the carriage. "I'm getting married tomorrow at midday and you are all invited to my wedding," I told them, "Later, before sundown, I will send fitters and seamstresses over here to start your fitting for your bridesmaids dresses and your suit, Sadik."

All of my sisters nodded their head but Sadik was stil in shock. In a flash he reached his arm out, grabbed my wrist, and began squeezing it tight, "I won't allow this! You're staying here, Kandake!"

I yelped in pain and began squirming in his grasp. Suddenly Ludwig reached out and punched him hard in the jaw. Sadik let my arm go and then dropped the ground, clutching his new, swollen injury.

"Sadik!" Alegria whimpered as she stared at the small drop of blood that trinckled from out of his lip.

Ludwig helped me into the carriage and then climbed inside, before closing the door. I watched as Alegria helped Sadik on his feet again. "We'll see you tomorrow at the wedding, Kandake!" Fatima said, excited. I nodded my head an smiled at my sisters as the carriage began pulling away. Sadik averted his gaze from mine. I heaved a heavy sigh and dared not to look out the window for the rest of the trip.

**(A.N.: It took me f*cking forever to write and edit this chapter! But it's finally finished! :D Now I'm gonna go work on MMD stuff and upload this on DA! Thanks to all my followers who have had to wait this long for me to get off my ass and write this chapter! Until next time!**

**Translations**

**Vous crétin! Sortez de cette cuisine, en ce moment-You moron! Get out of the kitchen right now! (French)**  
**Guten Morgen- good morning (German)**  
**dummkopfs- idiots (German)**  
**Danke- Thanks (German)**  
**Ich sehe- I see (German)**  
**aptal- idiot (Turkish)**  
**kijinga- idiot (Swahili)**  
**Nedir- What? (Turkish)**

**...So uh, who do you think took Jewel? ))**


	7. Chapter 6

Oh, my god. I finally finished this! It's been sitting in my computer for MONTHS! Thank god I can finally get to the next chapter and sorry for not updating in a long while! Thanks to all those who stuck with me and waited this long!

BTW, this chapter is split into three parts. This one is more of the flashback one where we learn a little more about Gilbert and Ludwig's past, the next one will be present day, and I PROMISE you that the third one will be a lemon! I'm getting down on my knees and swearing that there **will** be a lemon. But until then enjoy!

**~*Wedding** **planning: day 1*~** ***CON'T***

I stared at my lap and kept thinking about my two missing sibilings, _"There has to be some way that I can find them both..."_ My mind thought before I shook my head, "There's no way I can." I accidently said out loud and Ludwig looked at me, worried.

"We will find them, Miss Kandake." He said and I turned to face him,

"But what if we can't? What if my sisters remain out there forever! It'll be all my fault! I-!" I could feel tears prickling at the edge of my eyes but tried my best to hide them.

Ludwig took my hand into his, "Kandake calm down, we will find them," He stated, "our search party is the best one in the country, they always find what they're looking for." I clutched my heart with worry and averted my gaze out of the window, not speaking again for the rest of the ride home.

**LATER**

"So, Miss Kandake, which fabric do you like?"

One of the servants asked me with a large smile as she held up a lovely white satin tablecloth, whilst another one held up a silk one with a lacy patteren at the end. "They both look quite lovely," I said brightly, "but I'll take this one." I pointed to the tablecloth with the lacy design. The second servant nodded and they both walked away, "Wait, may I please ask you a question?"

I stopped them, "Why of course ma'am."

"Have any of you seen Gilbert? Has he returned from fighting yet?"

Both women shook their heads, "I'm afraid not yet, Miss Kandake."

THe first servant said and my heart quickened, "He hasn't come back yet?" I thought to myself as I could feel my stomach sicken with fear. "Oh Gilbert, please be okay." I stared up into the sky and said to myself.

**GILBERT'S POV **

I held my pistol inside of my hand as I hid behind a tree, searching for any of those theives who dare call themselves citizens. "Damn persistent little bastards," I whispered under my breath as my eyes scanned the forest grounds.

Matthias signaled me a gesture on whether or not we should move forward and I signaled back with a nod of my head. Matthias, along with a few of my other knights Tino, Berwald, Emil, and Lukas, followed his lead. Then it dawned on me, "If they're not spotted on the ground then they must be-."

Suddenly all six of the theives jumped down from the trees and began attacking us. One of them swung a knife at me, inches away from scratching my face and cutting off a few strands of my hair. I pointed my pistol at him and shot the man in the shoulder,

"Damn it!" The man shouted out loud and fell back.

"Who is your leader?" I asked before grabbing his collar and pulling him towards me,

"Wouldn't you like to know, jackass!" The man said before I hit him in his face with the pistol, "If you won't tell me then maybe you and your little buddies here would like to have a word with my third in command officer, Vash." I looked at Matthias, who along with his four other friends, finished tying up the five other theives after stripping them of their weapons.

"Now you stay here," I said with a deep growl, "the search party should be here soon."

Then we all mounted our horses and rode out towards home. "Sir Gilbert," Tino stated worried, "Are you sure we should just leave them like that? What if they escape?"

"When have they ever, Tino?" Matthias asked irritated, "Stop worrying."

"Sir Gilbert, I heard you were getting married tomorrow. But to whom, I must ask?" Emil asked me with curiosity in his voice.

"Her name is Kandake Sitota." I said,

"Wait a minute! Isn't that the girl who Matthias almost-?"

"Yes, she is." Matthias interrupted angrily and with embarrassment.

I felt a smile creep up on my lips. _"Don't worry Kandake, I'm on my way home."_

**KANDAKE'S POV**

Within each and every minute I could feel my heart sink with fear, "Please be alright Gilbert..." I prayed, "...please."

Elizaveta came into the room and said, "Kandake, it's time for the-." She stopped and watched me stare at the at the lay of the land, from the balcony. Elizabeta walks next to me, "Miss Kandake? Will you be alright?" I nodded my head slowly and she placed her arm on my shoulder, "You should stop worrying. Gilbert will be fine."

I looked at her then back to the horizon, "I've already lost a few people I cared about," I told her, "I just can't stand to see it happen again."

Suddenly we heard shouts coming from the hallway, "Where's Kandake? We wanna see our sister!" A familiar voice shouted,

"Barika?" I whispered, "You have no right to be here!" A man, who I knew was Roderich, shouted,

"Like hell we don't! That's our sister in there, we wanna see her!" She replied.

"I don't know you!" Roderich shouted back,

"Oh my..." Elizabeta said quietly before he came running on the balcony with messed up hair and his glasses tilted sloppily on his nose,

"Miss Kandake," he heaved out of breath, "there are a group of ladies, and a man, here to see you. Shall I send them out?"

My face brightened up, "No send them in!" I said cheerfully before the butler's eye twitched,

"Bring the women in..." he said grouchily behind his shoulder. I watched with delight as a guard escorted my sisters inside the room.

They all came walking as if nothing had happened but then, while walking past Roderich, Barika turned her head and said, "Bet you know me now, huh?" He scoffed.

I ran up to them all and hugged each and everyone of them, "Welcome to my new home!" I said unable to drop my smile,

"It's so beautiful!" Fatima said as her eyes gaped at the marble walls and paintings,

"So, Kandake where is your husband?" Cheylah nervously asked. I felt my all the energy that I had sap out of me, "He's..." I paused, "...He's-."

"Right here."

I turned around and there was Gilbert standing at the doorway behind my sisters, smiling and showing off his pretty white teeth.

"Gilbert...!" I breathed out before rushing towards him and throwing my arms around his neck, "You're okay!"

He looked into my eyes and said, "I told you I'd make it up to you, Kandake. So, on short notice, I had one of my carriage drivers escort your sisters here, so you could enjoy each others company." A smile soon made its way across my face before I kissed my fiancee full on the lips.

Gilbert then wrapped his arms around my waist, returning the kiss while Eliana piped up, "You guys look so cute togeth-!" She stopped and stared behind us. Gilbert and I parted lips in confusion before looking behind us at a man who stood behind the doorway...

...Sadik.

He looked at me with my new husband in silence and sternness before Gilbert slowly let go of me, "You must be Sadik," Gilbert said in a friend-like manner, "Welcome! I am Gilbert Beilschmidt of the Beilschmidt household, and Kadake's future husband." He extended out his hand.

There was a long pause.

Sadik looked at Gilbert's hand with sinister hate and then back at him.

From behind us we heard a few more footsteps and in walked Vash, Lili, and Ludwig. Everyone turned around and looked at the two,

"Wait, I thought that..." Sadik said quietly pointing from Gilbert to Ludwig in a confused manner.

His eyes eyes averted back to Ludwig and the two stared at each other for the longest of time with immense distain.

"Ah, I see you've met my younger brother Ludwig," Gilbert said, breaking the silence,

"Yeah, I have." Sadik replied, "You're Kandake's bodyguard right?"

Ludwig nods slowly.

To make the moment seem less awkward to them I said, "Uh, Gilbert, you've already met my sisters, yes?"

We turned towards Barika, Cheylah, Fatima, Vanessa, Alegria, and he bowed respectfully, "It's a pleasure to finally be able to sit down and speak to you all," Gilbert said, "I apologize for not being able to earlier, due to an attack within the city. I hope you understand."

Suddenly Fatima walked over to him and cheerfully stated, "We understand, Gilbert! You're gonna be the king and your duty is to keep your kingdom! How can we be angry at a man who just wants to keep his wife and family safe?" She followed with a smile.

Roderich then cleared his throat and I said, "Oh, sorry! I almost forgot to introduce Roderich Edelstein, our butler,"

He and Barika eyed each other evilly,

"and this is Elizabeta Herdervary and Lili Zwingli, our chambermaids." Both girls curtsied respectfully. "So we've all met each other," Gilbert said.

Suddenly a yellow puff came flying through the window in the middle of all of us; Vanessa screamed, causing everyone to jump. The little yellow puff landed on Gilbert's shoulder, "Hey Gilbird." He said while petting the little yellow chick,

"Oooh! It's a birdie!" Alegria said with sparkling eyes. She walked over to Gilbert and started petting his soft feathers,

"Do you like him?" Gilbert asked and she nodded,

"He's so adorable!" Gilbird chirped before soon hopping on her shoulder and nuzzling her neck.

"I'd hate to ruin the moment," Roderich said adjusting his glasses, "but we really must get back to planning the wedding."

"What else needs to be done?"

"The dress, the venue, the menu, the whole nine yards."

"I can help with the food," Eliana said smiling, "Cooking's always been my specialty! Who is your chef?"

"That would be Francis Bonnefoy, considering the time he might have just returned from shopping in the local market for some food," Elizabeta said, "Come with me. I'll show you the way towards the kitchen." She led Eliana out of the room.

"I could help with some of the decorations if you wanted me to. I-I could do flower arranging..." Alegria said quietly.

"With the rate that this is going we'll need all the hands we can get," Vash said, "if you need me I'll be in the training grounds trying out the new shipment of guns."

Vanessa's head snapped in his direction, "Guns?" She asked before quickly walking beside Vash, "Is it alright if I occompany you to these 'training grounds?" And In a flash they were gone.

"What about us?" Fatima pointed to herself, Barika, Cheylah, and Sadik, "What can we do to help?"

Gilbert turned to Roderich who was slightly shaking his his head, "Roderich will find something for you guys,"

I saw Roderich's face slightly drop, "Yes sir," Roderich said, slightly irratated before he turned around and faced the door, "Follow me."

Barika pouted as she, Fatima, Cheylah, and Sadik followed the stuffy man out of the door.

Before leaving, Sadik and Ludwig shot each other with disapproving glances once more, before Sadik finally left.

"Kandake," Gilbert said to me, "Follow me. I want to show you something." He took my hand and led me out of the balcony.

**LATER**

"It's gotta be here somewhere," Gilbert said whilst looking around the storage room he led me to.

"Gilbert, what exactly are you looking for?" I asked him,

"You'll see." He replied with a smile on his face.

I continuously followed him as he continued his search through the large room, "Here, you can look around a while until I find what I'm looking for," He told me while searching behind a few boxes, "I'll call you then, okay?" I nodded before walking away from Gilbert.

My eyes wandered all around the objects that lay inside until one perticular thing caught them, a picture that lay against the wall. I looked at it even closer, it was a family portrait of Gilbert, Ludwig, and their parents! _"Aww, they look so adorable!"_ My mind thought before I looked at the smaller version of Ludwig and saw how sad he looked,_ "Even as a child he always looked so depressed..."_

My thoughts were broken when I heard Gilbert running towards me while saying, "Kandake, I found-."

He looked at the portrait then at me, "I see you found our old portrait..." Gilbert trailed off, his voice becoming slightly sad,

"What's wrong?" I asked him.

My fiancee walked towards the picture and touched the frame's golden borders, "So much happened after this picture had been painted..." He began, "...that it's unbeliveable. This was our last picture as a whole family before it happened."

"What happened?"

He gulped quietly, "The plague..." I looked at his sad face,

"What happened?"

Gilbert looked into my eyes, "It's a long story," He said, "it might take too long to tell."

I looked around and grabbed a wooden crate and sat down on it in front of Gilbert with a big smile. He stared at me with hopeful eyes before finding himself an old chair and sitting on it in front of me, "I'll never forget those last few days I spent with my family..."

**FLASHBACK**

**_*~15 years ago~*_**

**GILBERT'S POV**

I looked from behind the tree I was hiding from,

"Gilbert, where are you? This isn't funny anymore!" My stubborn younger brother Ludwig shouted in the dense forest.

I snickered wickedly and snuck up quietly behind him, careful not to make a sound,

"I'M AWESOME!" I shouted out loud, he screamed in shock and dropped something from his hands. I fell over and crashed in a fit of laughter, "You should've seen the look on your face, Ludwig!" I said in between laughs, "You looked like such a wuss!"

Ludwig turned around and said, "That wasn't funny, Gilbert!" His face was cherry red with either embarrassment or anger. But I couldn't tell, nor did I care. I was too busy laughing at what just happened.

Ludwig pouted then picked up a small flower and dusted it off with care. I walked up and slapped his back, "You're such a little girly boy, Ludwig!"

He winced and said, "I'm not! It's for someone else..."

A wicked smile curled up to my lips, "Really? Who?"

"She's just a friend." Then Ludwig covered up his mouth,

"Ohhh, I see! You have a little girlfriend huh? How cute!"

He blushed madder then before and walked away from me, "I'm going home!"

"Wait up!" I said continuously laughing. By the time we reached home I had finally stopped laughing. My mother was the first one to greet us with a large smile. She wrapped her arms around us and said, "I'm glad to see that you returned home safely," Mom planted a kiss on both of our heads, "Mom! I made a new friend yesterday!" Ludwig said happily and showed Mom the flower, "Really? What's her name?" Ludwig blushed, "Well, I didn't get her name, but I'm gonna go see her tommorrow! I'll make sure I ask for her name then!" Mother smiled and he nodded, "Okay." Suddenly she started coughing a tad bit and I asked, "Mother, are you okay?" She smiled again,

"It's just a little cough, it's nothing darling! Don't worry about me."

She looked outside of the window with an odd look on her face, I knew that something was worrying her but Ludwig beat me to asking, "What's wrong?

"Nothing," She replied flatly before brightening up again, "Nothing at all."

"Madame Beilschmidt?" A voice said behind us. We all turned to see Roderich standing with his hands behind his back, "King Beilschmidt sent word that he will not be home tonight, for he has a meeting with the counsel five. He hopes you understand." Mother nodded and sent him away.

Both of our faces dropped in sadness, "He always does this..." I said, my eyebrows furrowing.

"Gilbert, don't be dissappointed," Mother stated, "your father just wants to make sure that his family is safe." She then ruffled my hair, "A King must do what he can to protect the ones he loves," Mom continued, "and to do that he must make a few sacrifices. When you're King, Gilbert, I want you to always remember that." Mother stood up and walked towards the long hallway,

"When I'm king," I muttered, trying to conceive my anger, "I'll make sure that I'm a better father then he was."

Ludwig looked at me with shock, "You shouldn't say things like that! You heard mother, he's just trying to protect us!"

I flashed a look at Ludwig, "I don't care..." my voice became very sinister, "...what he does."

My brother's eyes read worry in them as he bit his tongue and refrained from speaking.

**LATER**

Mother was picking flowers out of our large garden while I was chasing a beautiful lavander colored butterfly, "Stop running away from the awesome Gilbert and let me catch you!" I shouted before I suddenly tripped over an unseen rock and fell flat on my face allowing dirt and dust to cake my face. I watched in dissappointment as the butterfly flew away until it suddenly landed on Ludwig's head.

He smiled joyously and placed his index finger near the bug's feet, allowing it to perch on it like a branch, "Mommy, look!" Ludwig cried and she turned her head facing the butterfly,

"Oh it's beautiful!" Mother chimed as she smiled with joy at him.

Suddenly we heard a horse neigh by the front gate and all of us stood up in alert, "It's dad!" Ludwig shouted with joy and then a huge smile lit up my face as well. We both ran out of the garden and towards the entrance,

"Ludwig! Gilbert! Be careful!" Mother shouted from afar.

We saw our father dismount off his large grey spotted horse and we clung to his hips, "Father, we're so glad you're home!" Ludwig said to my dad.

"I have so many questions to ask you, Father," I chattered, "Did you find any new inventions? Did you conquer any new land? Did you meet any natives?"

My father placed his large hand on my silver hair, "We do not say the word "natives", Gilbert. We call them people as well."

I scratched the back of my neck in embarrassment, "I sorry, did you meet any new people?"

My father smiled and nodded, "Yes I did, and they were a very lively bunch," He placed one hand on our backs each and said, "I'll tell you all about it inside."

**THE NEXT DAY**

Father had called us all together with a joyous look on his face, "To comemmorate my return, I purpose that we have a family portrait painted for us."

"Aww, but Father! Those always take so long!" I pouted crossing my arms,

"Gilbert, enough pouting," Mother said, "Don't worry, I'm sure that it won't take as long as you think." She began ruffling my hair.

It. Took.** Hours!**

I could've sworn that, after the portrait was left to dry, I lost my ability to walk! The painter had us standing up for what felt like forever!

I flopped into a chair with sore feet and sighed deeply, "Finally that's over."

Suddenly mother started coughing again, "Arella, you have to do something about that coughing," My father said as he placed his hand on her forehead, "It gets worse and worse every minute."

Mom cleared her throat, "I'm fine Siegmund," she cleared her throat, "It's just a small cold, I'll be fine."

Father ran is hands on mother's head, "You feel a little warm."

Mother took his hand into hers, "Siegmund, stop. I'll be okay." She smiled warmly.

A few days passed and Mother's illness got worse and worse. There were times when she needed help getting up from chairs, and when she wouldn't eat either. Finally by the next week, mother had lost a large amount of weight and could barely get out of bed. Her coughing got so bad that there was once a time I could've sworn that she coughed up blood. Father checked on her constantly; he wouldn't leave her side no matter how important the cause was. As the days rolled by more and more I could feel my heart sink, for my mother never got better.

Ludwig, not being able to stomach the sight of Mom being in pain, was often out of the house. Where he went, I never knew, but my best guess was that it had something to do with that little "friend" of his.

We sent word for the doctor's help. When he came he examined my mother closely muttering under his breath words that I nor my father could understand. "King Siegmund?" My father looked up and the doctor led him out of the room.

I wanted to follow them but Father stopped me, "You take care of your mother until I get back." Then he left me alone in the room as he went to go talk to the doctor.

The room was then filled with the heavy wheezes of Mother's breath.

Suddenly she started moaning something inconsistantly, "Mmm...ah...er..."

I stood up and walked over to my mother's side, "What's wrong mother? What is it you need?"

"Ill...burt...Mmm...ah...er..." I looked at her with a confused glance,

"Maher?"

She tried lifting up her bony arm and pointed behind me, "Mmm...ah...er..."

I turned around and there was a large wooden bucket with a ladle inside, "Oh! Water!" I exclaimed, finally understanding. Quickly as I could I ran towards the bucket, grabbed the ladle as gently as I could and walked back towards Mother with the spoonful of water in my hands. She placed her lips against the cool silver spoon and drank it up slowly. Once finished, Mother closed her eyes and went to sleep,_ "You'll get better, Mother,"_ I thought to myself, _"All we need to do is pray."_ I placed the ladle back inside of the bucket, but then I noticed something.

Father was still talking to the doctor.

In a flash I left the room and searched the hallways for the two men until I finally found them both on the balcony. "It's been spreading across the nation for some time now," the doctor said, "we call it _'the plague'_, and I'm afraid your wife has caught it."

Father's shoulders dropped, "You are the best doctor that I know. Please tell me my friend, is there a cure for this 'plague'? Will my wife get any better?"

The doctor looked down to the ground, "So far everybody who's had the disease has died, my great king..." He said with a heavy heart, "I'm afriad that there is no cure."

My eyes widened,_ "N-No cure?"_

I felt the words be taken out of my mouth. I let by back touch the wall as anger boiled in the back of my throat, "He's lying..." I whispered.

"I'm sorry King Siegmund, but there's nothing that I can do." The doctor sighed,

"That's a lie," I said revealing myself from behind them both,

"Gilbert?" Father's eyes went from surprise to anger, "I thought I told you to stay with your mother!"

I felt tears of anger fall down my pale cheeks, "You're just gonna let her die? You're not gonna do anything to help Mom?!"

Father's eyes averted away from mine, "There's nothing that we can do, Gilbert. Even if we tried."

More tears ran down as I rushed back towards my mother's room where I surprisingly found Ludwig standing and talking to Mom, "What are you doing here?" I asked with anger still in my voice,

"I-I just came back here to talk to mother and see if she was doing okay," He stuttered and backed away from Mom,

"Why? Shouldn't you be with that little 'friend' of yours that you care about so much?" A sarcastic tone was in my voice as I walked towards my dying mother, and pushed Ludwig aside. I wrapped Mother's hand in both of mine and said, "Mother, you're going to be fine. We'll find a cure, I promise!"

Ludwig walked towards me, "Brother, is there anything you want me to do?"

"You've done enough," I stroked mother's hand and laid my head by her side, tears ran freely, "Just leave."

But Ludwig didn't budge, "Where's father? I could find him and he could help. Our father's a great man, he can do anything. "

That was it.

In a flash I shouted back at him, "HE WON'T!" Ludwig stared at me with disbelief as I laid my head back down on the bed and more tears ran. A few sobs choaked its way out of my throat as I tried holding my mother's hand closer to my face,

"Hang in there mother... hang in there..." I whispered.

My little brother's head hung low before we heard footsteps walking into the room. It was Father. I moved my face closer to to my mother's hand and dared not to look at his face.

**LUDWIG'S POV**

I looked at my brother then back at father, "Father," I began, "Gilbert says that you won't help Mother. Why?"

Father casts his eyes downward before kneeling to my level, "It's not that I won't, I can't."

I tilted my head slightly, "What do you mean?"

"Your mother has caught an incurable sickness. This "plague" disease has been sweeping the nation for quite a few weeks now, and killing every person who catches it."

I looked at my father's eyes and then back to my mother and back at Father once more, "I don't want Mother to die." I squeaked softly.

Father then looked at me with sad downcast eyes before wrapping his large arms around my shoulders, "None of us do, Ludwig," He whispered, "None of us do."

**TWO DAYS LATER**

**GILBERT'S POV**

The choir sang their hyms of sadness as the royal guards walked carrying a funeral bed, followed by the priest speaking latin phrases from his bible, along with my family and the townspeople.

The skies were coated with grey and the warm wind blew calmly, allowing the spring trees to litter flower petals on my mother's grave bed and on the ground that the soldiers walked on. One of them landed near my feet. I looked down at the small flower before picking it up and staring at it for the longest of times. My head lifted up when I saw the soldiers placing my mother's body inside of a tomb. The preist went to close the door and seal the locks,

"Wait," I squeaked and he stopped to watch me walk towards the tomb,

"I want to see her one last time."

He nodded and let me in through the door. I walked down the steps looking at the guards who had just placed Mother's body on one of the stone slabs; they all bowed and paid their respects before I sent them away. When I was finally alone I looked at my mother's beautiful pale face, "I'm sorry, Mother," I whispered, "I tried to believe that we'll find a cure but..." I wiped a tear from my eyes, "...I-I wasn't stong enough!" The tears kept running as I laid my head on her chest, "D-Don't leave me!" I sniffled, "Please, I don't know what to do without you. Ich...Ich liebe dich." I wiped my eyes on my sleeve and looked at the flower inside of my hand, "I'll miss you, Mother." I said while placing the flower in between her hands that lay across her clothed breast. My eyes continued to fill with tears as I left the tomb, looking at mother one last time before walking outside.

The priest closed the tomb door and sealed it under lock and key. Soon, the people of the kindom started filing out, including my family. Along the way various people stopped, bowed, and paid their respects with words like, 'Our queen will forever be missed', or 'Many prayers to your family'. My father and Ludwig seemed touched by their words, but to me they meant nothing.

I felt numb and emotionless.

None of their words could ever bring her back, none of them.

Home just didn't seem the same without her...

The skies were continuing their grieving and soon the angels in heaven began crying with dispair. I stared outside at the heavy rain with an emotionless face on, "Gilbert," I heard Ludwig say behind me, "Dinner shall be served soon."

I didn't budge nor reply,

"Come on brother, and join us. You haven't eaten a speck since Mother's death. You're all skin and bones, Gilbert."

My eyes never did leave outside. "I'm not hungry." I stated emotionless.

Footsteps were heard from behind my brother, "Ludwig, go wait for dinner," He walked towards me, "Gilbert, we have to talk."

I continued looking outside, "Gilbert look at me when I'm talking to you."

When I did turn around to face him my eyes just glared with hate, "What?" Father's eyebrows frurrowed, "Don't **'what'** me, Gilbert. You've been acting so stubborn ever since your mother died and I want you to stop it, right now."

This time it was my turn to lower my eyebrows, "Now get your **ass** downstairs, and come have dinner with us."

I placed both of my feet on the ground and walked towards the door before turning my head and looking back at father with even more hate. Then I walked down the steps.

**-THE NEXT DAY-**

I watched as Father stood on a balcony and looked at the lay of the land, sighing deeply in the process. "Gilbert," He spoke and I looked up at him, "Could you go fetch one of the servants to fix me my special tea, please?" I nodded my head and walked from off the balcony before turning back and looking at him again.

**-LUDWIG'S POV-**

I walked down the hallway with another flower inside of my hand, _"Today's the day!"_ I thought to myself, _"I'm going to tell her that I love her!"_ A smile made its way to my face before suddenly Gilbert walked in front of me and shoved a cup of tea into my hands, causing me to drop the flower and nearly spill the drink,

"Dad wants his tea," He said sternly. "He's on the balcony."

"Okay..." I said quietly while trying to carefully pick up the dropped rose without wasting any of the tea. Then I walked down the hallway to my new destination. When I finally got to the balcony there was Father, staring at his kingdom. "Father?" I squeaked and he turned around, "I-I brought you your tea."

"Thank you, my son." I watched as he took a sip of it and sighed,

"Father, can I ask you a question?" Father looked at me with approving eyes, "You see... there's this girl I've known for a while now and... well... I think I love her, but I don't know how to tell her."

I noticed a smile curl up to his face. "Young love, it's such a gorgeous thing." He said before taking another sip from the tea, "Don't speak from your mind, Ludwig," Father kneeled down to my level and placed his free hand on my blonde locks, "speak to her from your heart."

"B-But what if she laughs at me?"

"If she laughs, so what? Then she's obviously not the one for you; just move on and find somebody else."

"But I want to marry her, Father! She's so smart, so sweet, so... perfect..." I trailed off while looking at the green hills from off the balcony. "I don't know what I'd do if that happened."

"Don't be so dramatic, son. If it happens, it happens. There's nothing that you can do about it."

I nodded my head, "Yes, Father."

"Now you go find the sweet little lady of your dreams, and tell her your feelings, son."

A bright smile lit up my face and I nodded my head, "Speak from your heart when you give her that rose, okay?" Then I ran off down the hallway, towards the lady of my dreams with sparkles in my eyes.

**-GILBERT'S POV-**

I found myself sitting in my room late in the afternoon, once again staring outside at the sky. My thoughts were soon interrupted by a loud, shrilled scream. I jumped out of bed and ran to the direction that it came from. What was going on?

"Somebody! Find the doctor! Our king's been poisoned!" Roderich's voice called out.

Poisoned? Poisoned?! I ran as fast as I could to the balcony, where I found my father on the ground clutching his chest and breathing heavily. He was in the middle of a circle of servants who were trying to help him onto his feet, "Father!" I shouted then I turned towards Roderich, "What happened?!"

Roderich shook his head and said, "He's- your father's been poisoned!" He pointed to a broken teacup.

I walked over to the broken shards and noticed a white powder littering on many of them. "Oh my god." I whispered.

"What's going on?" A voice said behind us.

We all turned around and faced the only person who was gone for the whole day. Ludwig. I looked and saw everyone's face turn from sorrow to rage as he looked at our father with shock, "Father?" He asked before running towards him, "Father! What happened?" He turned around and faced the servants with a worried look.

"We suspect that he was poisoned." Roderich said stiffly.

"Poisoned? By who?"

"Ludwig, did you give the king anything to drink before you left?"

He looked at the tea and replied, "Y-Yes, I gave him some tea. But... I didn't poison him!"

One of the older servants growled out, "You liar."

Ludwig stood up, "I'm not, I swear! I only took the tea because G-!"

**SLAP!**

A hand made its way across my brother's cheek and knocked him towards the ground, "Trying to blame somebody else for your doings, eh?! You lying little parracide! Haven't you realize what you've done?!" Said the man who stood in front of Ludwig. Surprisingly, it was the doctor.

"B-But I haven't done anything!" Ludwig told them, his blue eyes on the brink of tears.

As the doctor raised his hand up high, I ran in front of my brother, not being able to stand him get slapped again.

"You will not touch my brother with your dirtied hands!" I screamed in his face and the doctor looked at me before backing away.

I turned to my father and pointed, "Somebody get my father to bed and do anything you can to get the poison out of his body, **NOW**!"

Everyone scrambled to help my dying father get on his feet and left my brother outside still crying and whimpering, "I didn't do it... I didn't do it..."

I walked in front of him and wrapped my arms around him saying, "Shhh, stop crying bruder."

My father died a few hours later.

Another family member, gone.

As the guards set him down inside of the same tomb, next to mother, I felt empty. Ludwig was sniffling and crying his eyes out as they closed the door and locked it, signifying the end of the burial. As the people of the town littered away I stood Ludwig up and we both walked away, with the servents close behind.

So much had happened between the time when my father was poisoned up until now.

Ludwig, for thoughts of treason, was ordered to live in a boarding school far across the Germany and study abroad until he graduated. I begged and begged the council to keep my brother close to me but they refused.

_"It's either let him study abroad until he's learned his lesson, or death for murder."_

So there we stood at the front gate waiting for Ludwig as he returned from bidding that little friend of his goodbye for what would seem like an eternity. When I did spy him walking with Roderich, I saw his head be held low. My heart couldn't help but go out to him as he paced his way towards the carriage that would take Ludwig far from home.

When Ludwig reached us he held his head high and walked towards me with pride in his sad, cold, blue eyes. Then when my brother reached me he held out his hand, "Until we meet again?" Ludwig asked with hope gleaming in his eyes.

I smiled a bit and took his hand into mine, "Try not to be such a wuss when you get there," I said, "Try to be more awesome like me!"

Ludwig giggled before hugging me. Then he hopped inside of the carriage and Roderich closed the door behind him. I watched as he stared outside towards me before the vehicle moved and Ludwig vanished from my sight.

Now with the burden of our kingdom on my shoulders, the council took action and began pointing fingers at anyone they could find. Since the tea given to Father was licensed in his name the doctor, for suspicions of being an accomplice to poisoning Father, was executed on the spot. I was ashamed to say that I let it happen, but I didn't do anything to stop it. Rage had filled my heart.

As I stood on the same balcony that my father did before his death, I stared into the horizon. Mother's words echoed through my mind, _"A King must do what he can to protect the ones he loves, and to do that he must make a few sacrifices..."_

"Don't worry Mother," I whispered, "I will make you proud."

**END OF FLASHBACK**

By the time I finished, Kandake stared at me with guilt in her eyes, "I'm so sorry, Gilbert..." She told me and I nodded my head,

"It's alright," I said with my head hanging down, "You know sometimes I have dreams about them both standing next to me like when I was younger. There are times when I believe that they're still alive, but then I have to be reminded that they're gone. It-It gets really tiring and...lonely sometimes." Before I knew it a few tears made its way onto my lap, "Verdammen, I'm sorry," I wiped my tears away, "it's just hard to take it that's all."

Suddenly Kandake placed her hands on my cheeks, "Well you've got me, Gilbert." I looked at her in a shocked way, "Stop crying, It'll be alright." She smiled at me warmly and my heart began racing. Kandake began wiping the tears from my eyes and a large red blush spread across my face. She stood up and walked behind me, "Here, let's get out of this part of the room, it's too depressing."

"Okay."

Kandake walked away with a bright smile on her face.

I felt myself stumble on the chair a slight bit before catching myself. Another blush spread across my face and my heart was still beating fast, "What... the hell?" I asked myself as I thought about Kandake's smiling face and her words,_ "Well you've got me, Gilbert! Stop crying, it'll be alright."_ I began fiddeling with the collar of my shirt before standing up and running my hand through my silver hair in confusion and stress._ "What's going on... with me?"_ I thought to myself then my body faced the portrait. I eyed my father's face on the portrait and my eyebrows furrowed.

_"Our father is a great man! He can do anything!"_

I scoffed and rolled my eyes, "Yeah right," I looked at the portriat once more,

"Bastard."


	8. Chapter 7

KANDAKE'S POV

"Here it is!"

Gilbert said followed by a relieved sigh.

I watched as he led me to a mannequin with a beautiful white gown hanging from it. My eyes sparkled as I looked at it with envy,

"Oh, Gilbert..." I breathed out. The dress was remarkable. It had a collar that would show my shoulders, long silky sleeves that started on my shoulder, long bottom ruffles, and a lacy pattern on the top. "...It's so beautiful."

"It was my mother's," Gilbert smiled, "She always kept it in hopes that she would see it on my bride." He slightly hung his head low, "It's a shame that she never did live long enough for that to happen."

I placed my hand on his shoulder. "Your mother might not be here, but she's always watching you..." I looked up, "...with the angels of heaven that watch over us." Gilbert then calmly wrapped his arms around my hips and buried his face in the crook of my neck. I wrapped my arms around his neck and we both just stood there for the longest of times.

**ELIANA'S POV**

As I stood inside of the kitchen getting myself familiar with it, I heard the large doors behind me open. In walked a man with long, golden hair and a bit of stubble on his chin. His blue eyes gleamed with profound lust as he walked over towards me and asked, "Excuse me, cherie, but may I ask your name and business?"

His accent baffled me. It was one I had never heard before.

"My name is Eliana Rivas, are-are you Francis Bonnefoy?"

The man didn't answer. He just scoffed and cocked his head to the side and let out a smug grin. "Oui madamoiselle," His blue eyes began eying me up and down and I couldn't help but shiver with disgust, "Why do you ask, belle maîtresse?" (beautiful lady)

"I'm here to help you cook for the wedding."

Francis walked closer towards me and said, "Is that so?"

I backed away further with each step he took until my back hit the counter. He placed both of his hands beside my face on the wall, cornering me. "Don't expect you can work in my kitchen for free," He took a strand of my dark curly hair into his large pale hands, "there will be some form of payment." Francis took the strand and held it close to his face causing a blush to spread across my cheeks and my heart's pace to quicken. "

Your scent..." He smirked, "...it reminds me of pineapples." I felt my face get redder with embarrassment, before Francis said, "I wonder what your lips taste like." The weird accented man leaned closer towards me, then I decided... enough was enough.

In a flash I curled my hand into a fist and sent it flying into his jaw. "Culo cachonda!" I shouted as he backed away from me, clutching his new injury, "I only let my husband make such advances!"

Francis looked at me and stated, "Feisty little woman, you are," I curled my other fist, ready to attack him again, "You do not respond with your body's language. Your mouth reads "no" but your body says "yes"." When the perverted man stood up and tried to walk up to me again I unleashed all hell on him.

**RODERICH'S POV**

I walked through the large hallways towards the kitchen, in _a huff. "He just doesn't get it, does he? That damn harlot. It's bad enough that I have to deal with one of them, but more..."_ I thought to myself angrily, _"...they're all incompetant! All of them! Nothing but a bunch of dirt poor rats! How could Gilbert invite such ill-minded guests to a wedding of all places?! I swear that if those girls make one wrong move I'm gonna-."_

_**CRASH!**_

My thoughts were interrupted by what sounded like the dropping of pans and shouts. I looked over at the kitchen door and, a couple seconds later, Francis came stumbling out with a bruised jaw, along with scars and bruises. "What the hell happened to you?"

He began muttering something that I couldn't understand due to his swollen jaw and I looked at the raven haired woman, who stared at Francis with rage in her face. That very moment, I saw Gilbert walking with his wife to this very place.

"Mein gott, what happened here?" He asked Francis.

Then we all turned towards the female who pointed at the injured frenchman, "No man shall touch me like that before marriage!" "You will never learn will you?!"

I scolded, "'No' means 'no', dammit!" Francis looked behind his shoulder and at the woman with a scared look. If looks could kill, he'd be dead in a matter of seconds. I rolled my eyes and said, "Get up, and get back into the kitchen. You've handled worse."

The frenchman hesitantly stood up and walked back inside of the room, muttering some words in french.

**FATIMA'S POV**

I carried a pot of flowers that Alegria had arranged, in my hands. I walked down the large halls, my flats echoed on the marble floor loudly. _"I wonder if that messanger boy is here,"_ I thought to myself, _"I hope I could see him again! He was unlike any man I've ever met!"_

My thoughts were interrupted when suddenly I spotted someone else walking into the same hallway. It was a tall, slender man who looked to be about in his early 20s, wore a knights uniform, and had wild blond ba-.

Oh no.

It was him.

The soldier who was tormenting me in the feilds a couple days ago!

My legs stopped moving and I was frozen in fear, _"What should I do?"_ I wondered. I notice him stop where he was and look in my direction, _"Oh no! He spotted me!"_

Then the soldier came walking in my direction silently. My heart was beating so fast. I tried running away but I couldn't move. The wild banged man stopped in front of me and I began backing away from him, "Wait..." He spoke softly, but I was still backing away in terror. Suddenly I bumped my back on a wall and stared up at the tall man, fear still written across my face. Then I noticed the blonde person kneel down on one knee, whilst bowing,

"I'm sorry..."

I looked at him confused, _"He... apologized?"_

"...I understand if you hate me, I just-," He paused then summed up the courage to look into my eyes, "I just didn't think about my improper actions. I hope you'll forgive me."

There was an akward silence between the both of us.

_"Should I forgive him?"_ I asked myself in worry.

Finally after mulling it over, I reached my hand out to touch the man's shoulder and I-.

"There you are, Fatima! I was looking all over for you!" A voice echoed through the hallways.

I turned around and noticed Vanessa rushing towards me, "Vanessa?"

My sister gripped my shoulders, "Alegria has more flowers that need to be delivered, you must hurry." Then she forced me to walk quickly with her, leaving the blonde soldier behind. When the young man had vanished from our sights Vannessa harshly whispered too me, "Don't ever go near that man agian," She turned to me, "I don't like him."

"B-But Vanessa," I stuttered at her scary tone, "he-he apologized."

"I don't give a damn! He might try to hurt you again!" By this time she was nearly shouting, "From now on, if he does come and talk to you, I'll make sure I'm close enought to watch you both. Is that clear?" I wanted to protest, but once my sister gets like this there's no stopping her. I merely nodded pitifully and she walked away from me.

**ALEGRIA'S POV**

I placed another flower pot on one of the guest tables, "Where is Fatima? She should be back by now!" I looked around at all of the servants, including Lili, that were helping me work. Then I walked towards a door that led me into the large garden and opened it. The setting sun shone brightly against my skin as I turned and looked around for my sister.

Suddenly a large black bird flew in front of my face and into the room. The bird squawked loudly and began flying all around the room. Lili screamed as it swooped down close to the ground and flew back up into the air. "Get down!" Another lady said as she ducked when the odd looking animal swooped down again, knocking over one of the empty vases on the table.

I saw Sadik reach over for one of them and began swinging it at the bird, hoping to at least knock it out of the air. When he was about to strike again the creature swooped down and tried clawing at him with his sharp little talons. Sadik ducked down, the bird barely missing his face, and he mumbled something under his breath.

Out of the corner of my eyes I noticed a young man with pale-white bedhair, like Gilbert's, and violet eyes run into the guest room with distressed look on his face. "Mr. Puffin!" The young man rushed down the steps leading to the bird as it swooped down again. He tried grabbing it by its legs but it fearcly squawked and frantically flew up higher. "Whoa!" The boy yelped as he tripped over one of the chairs and fell down.

When it flew over to me I held up my hands and calmy said, "Easy birdie," The animal squawked and flapped its wings in front of my face. "Easy..."

The bird stared into my eyes before suddenly a pair of arms quickly wrapped themselves around its waist,

"Gotcha!" A voice said.

I looked in front of me and there was the boy with that same silver hair. He mumbled a few incoherant words whilst struggling to hold the animal still. Then the boy's gaze turned up to meet mine and his eyes widened. He stood up slowly, with the bird in hand and opened his mouth to say something.

"Emil!"

We both turned around and faced a young man with light blonde hair, dull blue eyes, and a stern emotionless expression. The metal armor he wore gleamed in pride as did a cross barette he wore in his hair while He walked towards us. The man stopped in front of the boy, or Emil, and placed his hands on his hips, "Is that your bird?"

"Uhh..." Emil slightly turned back and then back at his friend, "...ja."

The older boy rolled his eyes, "What have we told you about letting that bird fly around? Put him in a cage for God's sake! He's making a mess of King Gilbert's wedding."

"But Mr. Puffin hates cages, he acts worse! You know that, Lukas."

Lukas turns around and says, "I don't care! Let's just find a place to put him and make sure he stays there." He began walking back towards the door. Emil turn around and looked at me, then he craned his lips to a small friendly smile and slightly bowed saying, "Thank you." Before running off and joining his friend.

I felt my cheeks burning as I watched him silently, "Alegria!" I heard a voice calling to me. I snapped out of my trance and Sadik came running over to me, "Alegria, are you alright? That bird didn't hurt you did it?"

"N-No." I squeaked. Then I noticed a small scratch of blood on his face, "Oh! Sadik you're bleeding!" He waved his hands, "It's just a little scratch, I've had worse." We both turned around to see the mess that the bird made and sighed deeply.

**LATER**

**KANDAKE'S POV**

Gilbert and I walked through the hallways and he asked me, "Do you think it's okay that you left your sister with Francis? He's kinda a handful."

"It's okay, Eliana can handle him. If he's smart, I bet he won't be making those advances to her any time soon."

We were then approached by Lili who said, "Excuse me, Gilbert? Have you seen Elizabeta anywhere?"

My fiancee shook his head, "No, I haven't. Why?"

"I was looking for her," Lili said, "I've searched around and can't find her anywhere!" "Well, it is a large house," I started "but what needs to be done?" She held up the blanket in her hand, "She was supposed to take this to one of the guest rooms, in the upper part of the mansion. I would take it upstairs by myself but it's so heavy that I can never carry it upstairs myself."

"I'll take it for you!" I smiled. Gilbert tried intruding,

"Actually Kandake maybe somebody else should-."

"No, no, no, it's alright Gilbert," I took the large, yet slightly heavy blanket away from Lili, "It's the least I could do!"

Then I began walking the opposite direction.

I walked through the halls carrying the blankets for one of the guests rooms thinking, _"Where is Elizabeta anyway? It's like she just...vanished."_ I looked up from the floor when I heard some odd noises coming from one of the guest rooms. I crept slowly through the halls as the noises started to sound more like moans. Then an odd smell crept up my nose and I crinkled it a bit, _"What in God's name is that smell?"_

"So good!" I heard someone moan.

I slowly placed the heaviest blanket on the ground and walked searching for the room that the noises were coming from. As I walked further and further the sounds kept getting louder and louder and it wasn't until I reached one room where I knew they were coming from. I slowly opened the door and there was Elizabeta naked with her hands and legs wrapped around Roderich's hips, he was naked as well. I covered my mouth in shock as I watched the two doing their dirty deed. His hips were moving against her body until suddenly he shouted her name and they stopped moving. Elizabeta's grip on his shoulders tightened and she screamed out Roderich's as well. A blush came to my cheeks at their actions.

I couldn't believe my eyes! Who would've thought that the stuck up,pompous butler would be the one to do something so... foul. When both servants looked into each other's eyes I finally croaked out, "Elizabeta?" Their eyes shot up and looked at me in shock as I dropped the smaller remaining blankets in my hands.

"Miss Kandake!" My chambermaid squeaked and tried her best to hide her naked body underneath the bed sheets, as did Roderich. Their expressions of shock turned to features of worry.

"Please... don't tell Gilbert." Elizabeta whimpered.

I looked at her and then Roderich with a loss of words. His face, surprisingly looked nervous before he looked down at the sheets with guilt, "Don't let Eliza take the blame," The pompus butler spoke wearily, "it's my fault. I coaxed her on and should've known better." He curled his fingers and gripped the sheets until his knuckles turned white. "If you do tell Gilbert please leave her out of this, I just can't handle her being sold off."

"S-Sold off?" Roderich's eyelids lowered, "It's a strict law that forbids servants and butlers from relationships. If thier love is found out, or seen by human eyes, then they would be seperated from each other," He shook his head, "and I just can't let that happen."

"So why would you both risk doing something you know that could possibly get you both detached?"

Roderich looked up at me and then back down to the sheets again, "When you're in love, you'll be willing to take risks, no matter how crazy or dangerous they are," His eyelids lowered, "and that's all that I've ever lived for... taking risks."

I looked at him, confused by his words.

"All my life I struggled on the streets in hopes that I would one day work for the royal family. When a mysterious illness was sweeping the nation things took a turn for the worst for me and my family. Every day I always did anything that I could to survive and put food on the table for my parents who struggled with debts and other problems. But it wasn't until one day, when I was seven, that my parents sold me to a slave trade for money to repay their own debts. That was the last time I ever saw them again. But afterwards I started offering to do dangerous things that no other boy at my age would do like smuggling info, stealing, making illegal deliveries, and-and..."

He stopped and clutched the sheets tighter, "...whatnot. I had to work myself hard and claw my way up to the top, to get to where I am now. When I had turned eight, the next year, King Siegmund and Arella were looking for somebody to help take care of their son, Gilbert. Knowing it would be my only chance, but not knowing how long the job would last, I offered help. They both weren't convinced until Gilbert went over and hugged me saying, 'You will be my awesome new friend!'" He chuckled a little bit before returning his sorrowfilled expression and looking back up at me, "You have to understand, Kandake, every day that I stepped out of bed when I was seven, and did all those jobs for money, I ran the risk of getting killed or arrested, or both. So if there's any one who should be punished for this, it's me."

I looked at him, unsure of what I should do. Here I was finally understanding just why Roderich had always acted so angry and heartless towards me, and I couldn't even make a decision of what my final word should be.

I shook my head, "No," I spoke clearly so they both could hear me, "I won't allow them to seperate you both." I walked over to Roderich and placed a hand on his shoulder and said, "You both are in love! Nothing should stop you from being this way, not even a stupid law such as that."

The once stuffy butler craned his lips to a smile, "I swear that once I'm queen... there will be some changes." Then I smiled.

Suddenly I felt arms wrap around me and I looked at Roderich, who buried his head in my shoulder, "Danke, Kandake. Vielen Dank." I smiled and replied, "You're welcome, Roderich."

"We are in your debt, Miss Kandake." Elizabeta said.

"Now could you please put on some clothes?"

**VANESSA'S POV**

I kept walking through the halls to a guest room with a serious expression planted across my face. _"Just who the hell does she think she is? She really thinks that guy was trying to be nice? He's nothing but a liar! Fatima's such an idi-."_ My thoughts were interrupted when I saw a suspicious figure walking near an open window in one of the rooms.

I softly gasped and hid somewhere, watching the person in secret. They hopped through the window wearing dark clothing and a mask over their face.

A spy!

"Shit."

I cursed under my breath and watched as the person placed down a loaded pistol on a small table with a vase. The person walked over towards the closet of many clothes and had their back facing me. This was my chance! I swiftly made my way over to the pistol, aimed at the figure, and fired. Although I missed hitting the person's shoulder directly, I knew that I hit something. The person gripped thier shoulder and I noticed a rip from the figure's clothing. They turned around and went running away from the closet, "Stop!" I shouted as I tried shooting again, but missed. "Maldita sea (Damn it)," I rushed over to the open window only to find out that the person was gone, "Who the hell was that?"

**KANDAKE'S POV**

Elizabeta, Roderich, and I walked through the hallways before being stopped by Francis and Eliana, "We just came out to find you! Dinner has been served." My sister said smiling. I looked at Francis and noticed him nod his head with fear, but placed a fake smile on his swollen jaw.

"We'll go find the guests and bring them here." Elizabeta assured me.

Suddenly I noticed Vanessa rushing towards my way, "Vanessa! Is everything alright?" I asked whilst trying to calm my sister down.

"I saw somebody sneaking into the guest room!" She panted.

"What?" Roderich asked,

"Somebody snuck into one of the guest rooms and tried stealing something! It was a spy, I tell you! A spy from the resistance!" "Calm down, Vanessa. We'll get Vash to look into it," I said, "Did they steal anything?"

She shook her head, "No, they didn't get a chance to. I shot them before he or she could. Oh!" SHe takes the gun and hands it to me, "This was the gun I used, they left it on the table before I clearly shot at them."

Roderich hesitantly looked at the gun before Lili took it and began looking at the gold patterns and designs, "This pattern looks familiar," She said, "I'll find Vash." THen she rushed off in the opposite direction.

"Come now, Vanessa, let them take care of it," I calmly said, "We'll go inside and eat alright?" My sister nodded her head slowly, yet unsurely as we walked into the dining room.

**LATER**

The news about the theif in our home quickly spread around the house. Our dinner was filled with chatter and whispers of suspicion that I could feel myself becoming uneasy, "I'm telling you, it was the resistance! The same people who kidnapped Jewel that night!" I heard Vanessa tell the other sisters, including Sadik.

"Are you sure?" FAtima asked, quivering in her seat,

"It has to be," Barika told them, "unless it's some sort of coincidence and that's highly unlikely."

Cheylah placed a hand to her chin, "There must be more of them then we thought, to attack one day and then sneak in the next," She turned to Alegria, "What do you think, Alegria?"

The hazel-eyed girl stared deeply at a glass of water with a distracted expression.

"Alegria?"

No answer. Sadik then walked up to her and shook her shoulder slightly,

"Alegria!" He said, slightly louder than anticipated and she snapped out of her trance.

"Huh?" Our sister looked at everybody unsure,

"Were you even listening?"

"Y-Yeah..." She said quietly.

After dinner, Francis along with his assistant chefs came out of the kitchen and took everyone's plate when he saw that we were all finished. I stared at my younger sister with confusion, "Is she alright?" I asked Fatima,

"I don't know," she replied, "I guess she misses Jewel after we mentioned the whole, ya know."

I nodded, "Miss Kandake, Shall I show your guests off to their rooms?" Elizabeta asked and I nodded yes. "Make sure that Lili gives them all nice nightgowns to wear to bed."

"Yes Mistress Kandake."

She then turned to all of my sisters and motioned them to follow her. As Sadik went to follow them, I noticed Ludwig grab his arm and say, "Your room is this way, sir." Then he spun around and walked in the opposite direction.

Sadik looked at him and then began muttering curses under his breath, while following. I noticed him exchange a glance at me quickly as he passed. Once I noticed that he was gone I looked down at the ground in shame,

"Are you alright?" I heard a voice behind me say and I turned my head around only to face Gilbert.

I nodded, "Yes," I replied, "I'm just...thinking." It wasn't until at that moment I noticed that it was only Gilbert and I left inside of the large room.

"Come on, you should get some rest." He said and we began walking towards the rooms with his arm wrapped around my shoulder.

**LATER THAT NIGHT**

I threw on one of my other nightgowns and smoothed out the fabric calmly, "Tomorrow's the day," I sighed in relief and excitement, "I'll finally be a bride." I looked outside at the night sky, _"Foeder, I'm finally fufilling my dream,"_ I thought while a small smile made its way across my face, _"I only wish that you could be here to see me off."_ When I noticed the stars twinkling outside I walked towards the window, sat on my knees, and placed my hands together in a praying moton, "Please Foeder," I began to say outloud, "please let this marriage work."

"You still do that too, huh?" I turned around and there was Barika standing at the door wearing a beautiful blue nightgown that reached down to her calves.

"Barika! I didn't know that you were still awake." I said.

My sister walked towards me and sat down at my side, looking outside as well. "Do you think she'll ever come back? Will they ever find her?" She asked with hope gleaming in her eyes.

"Who? Jewel?"

Barika nodded. "Of course they will! My friend Ludwig told me that their search party is the best in the whole country. THey always find what-. "

"'what they're looking for'. Yeah, I remember hearing him say that, Kandake. But for some reason, I don't know, I just can't believe it." I stared at her as she clutched her forehead, "I, honestly don't think we'll ever find her. I can't help but have this weird feeling that something's just not right."

I looked at her with disbelief, "You're just tired," I said, "You need to get some rest."

Barika looked at me, then outside before nodding, "Alright," SHe said as she stood up and walked towards the door, "Goodnight."

"Good night." I replied back. My eyes wandered to the floor and then back up at the stars. _"Don't worry Jewel,"_ I thought to myself, _"Wherever you are, we'll find you."_ I stood up and crawled into the large bed inside of the room and lay my head on the fluffy pillow,_ "We'll find you Jewel...we'll find you..."_ I drifted off into sleep thinking these words.

A few minutes later I was awakened by soft footsteps that trailed towards me, then stopped. I opened my eyes and there was Gilbert facing me on the side of the bed, "Kandake... thank you." He said,

"For what?" I asked,

"You're the only person who's ever listened to the story about my parents. So I wanted to thank you...for listening when no one else would..." He blushed slightly.

I felt a smile come to my face until suddenly Gilbert pressed his lips into mine. I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him back, passion and lust overcoming me. Gilbert crawled on top of me and made our kiss into more of a wild abandon,

"Gilbert..."

I breathed out as his lips trailed down from mine towards my neck and collarbone, moaning in the process.

"I can't hold myself back any longer..." He whispered in my ear and I blushed madder than before.

As his lips continued ravishing my collarbone I could feel his hand pulling down the shoulder of my dress, then Gilbert began to kiss my now bare shoulder. "Wait," I said and he stopped only to look me in the eye,

"Not until after our wedding."

I saw his eyes slightly hold dissappointment in them before he said, "You're right," Gilbert said as he crawled off of me, "I'm-I'm sorry." He began to walk away before I grabbed his sleeve,

"Gilbert," I said, "don't go..."

Gilbert looked back at me and then I saw the sorrow hidden in his eyes. Then I felt him wrap his arms around my shoulders and hips, "Y-You can stay in here with me until an hour before dawn," I said and he looked at me, "because I know it would be breaking wedding traditions if you stayed until the morning."

My husband nodded and crawled underneath the blankets with me. He wrapped his arm around me and I layed my head on his muscularly clothed chest. "Guten nacht... Kandake. I-I love you"

"Good night, Gilbert. I love you too."

We soon drifted off to sleep like angels.

**BARIKA'S POV **

Fatima sprawled on my bed and said, "Can you believe that tomorrow Kandake's getting married? I'm so excited I can't wait!"

"I know right? It only seems like yesterday we were feild workers and now we're bridesmaids for our sister's wedding," Cheylah said hopeful and lookign up from the book in her hand, "So much has happened in the last few days."

"True that!" Eliana said while looking at herself in the mirror. "What about her new husband, isn't he dreamy?" Fatima asked whilst grabbing one of the pillows to my bed and holding it up in the sky, "I hope I could find a husband like him."

Vanessa gave her sister and playful glance, "What about that cute messanger boy, Fatima? Did you forget about him already?"

"Oh right!" She giggled and hugged the pillow, "He was a sweetheart! I hope I see him again..."

"Hey Barika," Eliana asked me, "what do you think about Gilbert? Isn't he sweet?"

"He's got sneaky eyes." I said,

"What's that supposed to mean?" Vanessa asked slightly annoyed. "You know I've always had that gene, the ability to look at a person's eyes and know what their personality is, and when I looked at his... something inside of me just snapped."

"What do you mean?" Eliana looked at me confused,

"All I know is that there's something off about him, something I don't like," I replied, "I don't know what it is exactly but I do think that we should be careful what we say or do around him."

"Oh come on, Barika, living in those fields must have rubbed off on you," Vanessa said, "There's nothing wrong with Gilbert."

"You're probably right, Vanessa," I sighed, "I just don't want Kandake to get hurt again."

Vanessa crossed her arms and shrugged, "Even if he's messed up in some way, I'm just glad that it's not that idiot, Sadik, that she's marrying."

"I agree," I heard Cheylah say, "he's so selfish and rude."

"He's not that bad," Alegria said quietly, "you guys need to give him a break..."

"Whatever Alegria," Vanessa sneered, "but the bottom line is that Sadik cannot, and will never, be able to provide for Kandake like Gilbert can and will."

"You got that right." I agreed.

**SADIK'S POV**

I stood outside of Barika's closed door listening to their conversation. "He'll probably have Kandake pregnant every time, the pervert," I heard Barika say, "then he'll try to sell them to someone else for a price." Anger boiled in the pit of my throat at her words,

_"I'm nothing like that..."_ I thought to myself. I wanted to just walk in through the door and tell her how wrong she was but instead I just balled up my fist and walked over to one of the guest rooms, closing the door behind me. I flopped on the soft feathery mattress and soon fell asleep.

**ALEGRIA'S POV**

After all of my sisters fell asleep I went over to Sadik's room and knocked on his door, "Sadik?" I squeaked, "Are you awake?"

"Not anymore..." He groaned,

"Sorry," I said , "it's just that, I know I didn't say this earlier but... good night!" I said the last part quickly.

"Good night..." Sadik mumbled, Before I walked back towards my room I stopped and said, "Sadik?".

"Hmm?"

"I didn't agree with what they said about you," I admitted, "Those words were heartless and rude." Then I walked off quietly.

**SADIK'S POV **

"I didn't agree with what they said about you. Those words were heartless and rude." I couldn't believe what I had just heard, Alegria didn't agree with what they said. She was the only one who actually tried to side with me! I felt a small smile come to my face as I whispered quietly, "Thanks Alegria."

**(A.N.: So whaddya think? Was that worth the wait? Yes? No? Maybe so? Next chapter's the lemon! *Claps hands* FINALLY! XD And the best part, IT'S ALREADY BEEN WRITTEN! YEAHHH! Okay, I've had my fun.)**

**So uh... who do you think the messanger boy was?**

**Now onto the lemon!**

**Translations:**

**belle maîtresse- beautiful lady (French)**

**Culo cachonda- Sleazy asshole (Spanish)**

** Danke, Kandake. Vielen Dank- Thank you Kandake. Thank you (German)**

**Maldita sea- Damn it (Spanish)**


	9. Chapter 8

**Okay! Finally time for the lemon! Now keep in mind, I wrote this lemon a loooong time ago and tried my best to update it without completely changing/rewriting it. Oh and a bit of advice before reading it: it's not what it seems. But anyway, enjoy it for what it's worth.**

I felt the veal being thrown over my face thanks to Elizabeta. She then walked behind me and had me face a mirror, "You look beautiful, Kandake."

I looked at myself wearing the large white laced dress and I smiled,

"You look just like the perfect bride!" Lili said quietly, "I envy you."

I smiled but then it dropped,

"What's wrong?" Elizabeta asked me.

"I… I don't think I can do this," I whispered, "I'm-I'm scared that I-I-."

"You'll be fine. I assure you Gilbert's perfect for you." Eliza told me.

I smiled and hugged both of them, "Good luck." Lili whispered in my ear.

The wedding was amazing! There were people here from far and wide that I had never seen before! I peeped through the window I watched all of the guests start to pour into the church.

I started shaking with the bouquet of roses in my hands, _"There are so many guests…"_ My knees began buckling from underneath my dress, _"...what if I mess up and he doesn't want to marry me anymore?"_

Suddenly I heard the organ music start playing. Two of the many valets walked over to a doorway that was near mine and opened it, letting all of the grooms and bridesmaids walk through another door. I recognized Elizabeta with Roderick, Lili with Vash, Barika with Arthur, Alegria with Sadik, and Fatima, Cheylah, Eliana, and Vanessa with a few others, dressed elegantly. Before I knew it, my turn came up. I watched the valets walk over to me.

_"It's time." _ I thought to myself whilst getting ready. The doors soon opened and I walked through the aisle gracefully and everyone stood up to acknowledge me in awe,

"She's so beautiful!" One lady said,

"Her skin is flawless! She's like a foreign princess!" Another said.

I felt my cheeks burn with happiness and embarrassment as I looked at my husband. When I finally reached Gilbert, he lifted the veal over my face and smiled deeply. My fiancee let out his arm and I wrapped mine into it.

We faced the priest,

"Dearly beloved, we are gathered together here in the sight of God to join together this Man and this Woman in holy Matrimony," He began. "and into which holy estate these two persons present come now to be joined."

We watched as a lady, who I've never seen before, walked down the aisle carrying our rings. She was dressed in a long green dress and had a cheerful smile to her face. The woman handed the rings to the priest.

"If any man can show just cause, why they may not lawfully be joined together, let him now speak, or else hereafter for ever hold his peace."

Nobody said a word before he continued on saying, "I require and charge you both, as ye will answer at the dreadful day of judgment when the secrets of all hearts shall be disclosed, that if either of you know any impediment, why ye may not be lawfully joined together in Matrimony, ye do now confess it. For be ye well assured, that if any persons are joined together other than as God's Word doth allow, their marriage is not lawful." He turned to Gilbert, "Gilbert Beilschmidt, wilt thou have this Woman to thy wedded wife, to live together after God's ordinance in the holy estate of Matrimony? Wilt thou love her, comfort her, honour, and keep her in sickness and in health; and, forsaking all others, keep thee only unto her, so long as ye both shall live?"

Gilbert nodded his head and said, "I will."

The priest turned to me, "And Kandake Sitota, wilt thou have this Man to thy wedded husband, to live together after God's ordinance in the holy estate of Matrimony? Wilt thou love him, comfort him, honour, and keep him in sickness and in health; and, forsaking all others, keep thee only unto him, so long as ye both shall live?"

I opened my mouth, "I-."

Then I paused, something inside of me wanted to say "no" and run out of the alter right then and there. But instead I took a deep breath, after what felt like an eternity, and said, "I will."

I saw Gilbert smile and the priest asked, "Who giveth this Woman to be married to this Man?"

Gilbert turned towards me, took my right hand into his and said, "I Gilbert take thee Kandake to my wedded Wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death us do part, according to God's holy ordinance; and thereto I plight thee my troth."

He placed the wedding band given to him around my ring finger. Then I took his and said, "I Kandake take thee Gilbert to my wedded Husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death us do part, according to God's holy ordinance; and thereto I give thee my troth."

"I know pronounce you both husband and wife. You may kiss the bride."

My new husband smiled and wrapped his strong hands around me. Our lips clashed together as everyone started clapping and applauding out loud, I could even hear the wedding bells sound through the church. I looked over to my sisters who were cheering happily for me.

When Gilbert and I turned around and bowed, everyone was cheering for us… except for Ludwig. I looked into his cold eyes that read the words "hate" on them.

_"Why?"_ I asked myself as we walked down the aisle out of the church. When the doors opened I could see the many townspeople who gathered around and were throwing white rose petals at us with glory.

"All hail, the King and Queen of Prussia!"

I nervously waved at all of the people of the country that had attended and Gilbert did the same, except with pride and showed no fear. We walked to a carriage and my husband helped me inside before climbing in himself. As the doors shut Gilbert looked into my eyes and pulled me into a kiss before the carriage rolled off, leaving the large, immense crowd of people behind us.

We were finally beginning our new life together.

~*~ **(A/N: In other words LEMON TIME! If you don't like them or don't know what they are I suggest you turn back now)**

I tied the cloth string around my waist and looked at myself in a mirror. I wore a robe. A tanned cloth robe that Gilbert had set in my room a while back, along with a note.

_"Wear this and your undergarments. Then come into my room."_ It said.

I began feeling my palms become sweaty.

Is this it?

Is this that night?

Are we actually going to... have our wedding night?

I opened the door to my room and stepped out into the halls, with the same question still in my mind. _"I knew should've asked Eliza for advice like this before I left the dressing room!"_ I thought to myself, _"Now I feel so lost...!"_

I turned a corner but then stopped.

_"What's going to happen to me?"_

I walked out from another doorway towards the master bedroom that my husband and I were going to be sharing. I then noticed Gilbert, who sat at the edge of our bed talking to Ludwig,who had arrived shortly after we did to watch over me in case Gilbert had to leave me along.

"You are to stand outside of the door, and make sure no one interrupts us." I overheard him saying.

Ludwig nodded his head and walked from out of the room. Without looking, he bumped into me, "Oh… Kandake! I'm-I'm sorry..." Ludwig said quietly as he towered over me,

"It's alright, Ludwig." I replied as he nodded and moved over from the door. When I thought about the look in his eyes they looked like he was troubled in some way. Like, something was wrong.

I walked into the large room and immediatly looked at Gilbert, he had his shirt off and I stared at his muscular back in awe as he read some sort of document in his hand. "Gilbert…" He turned around to face me and stood up. I saw his eyes nearly pop out from their sockets at me in the robe and he started walking towards me.

I blushed when he put his hand on my cheek and said, "You look beautiful." I slightly smiled, but then he leaned his lips close to my ear, "You should be rewarded, Kandake."

Suddenly I felt his hand on my right breast and a gasp left my lips, "G-Gilbert, what are you-?" He shut me up with a kiss and continued to fondle with my breast in his hand. I muffled a few groans when he pulled the right part of my robe down leaving it bare. I saw Gilbert smile and start fondling with it again, then he licked my nipple, "G-Gilbert, w-wait…" I pleaded followed with another groan. I looked into his feiry red eyes hoping he would see just how scared I was.

"You're right, Kandake," I heard him say, "This isn't the right place to do this," Suddenly he lifted me up bridal style and walked me over to the bed, before laying me down on my back.

Gilbert then crawled on top of me saying, "This is." I was scared. I kind of knew that this was going to happen to me, but I was still nervous as a child! The way he was touching my body slightly made me uncomfertable.

I shook my head as he reached for the left side of the robe and pulled that down as well. He softly whispered in my ear, "No bra? You unartig madchen." I squirmed under him and groaned as he started touching my right nipple and licked my left one, "Sie du bekommen hart." Gilbert whispered under his breath.

My head was spinning. I just couldn't take this! "Gilbert, please stop! I can't—I don't like this!" His left hand snaked past my stomach and down to my panties. Suddenly I felt him fingering my clitoris and moaned, "Gi-Gilbert!"

Gilbert smirked, "You'll learn to love it, mein frau." I felt him roll it in his hands and I moaned loudly. "D-Don't touch that!" I begged him as he continued his doings and kissed my lips.

Then, I had decided that enough was enough! I struggled and tried to push him off of me but Gilbert pinned me down by my arms, "Why do you want me to finish so fast? We're just getting started." He said heavily.

Then Gilbert put his finger inside of me and I moaned even louder than before. As quick as a flash he added a second finger and started moving them both. I could feel myself start to buck my hips slowly and I began steadily saying his name over and over. Suddenly I felt him remove the rest of my robe and spread my legs apart after taking out both fingers,

"You're so wet, Kandake," Gilbert purred in my ear and then I saw him unzip his pants. They fell off his hips and there he was… naked… in front of me. I looked at the suspiciously hard figure that lay in front of my womanhood and gulped, it was so big!

Gilbert grabbed both of my thighs and said, "I'm going in now."

My eyes widened and I shook my head, "No-!"

But I was cut off with another kiss, "Einfach entspannen." He whispered in my ear and slowly pushed inside of me, breaking my virgin barrier. The pain was unbearable and tears started falling down my face. When Gilbert was fully sheathed in me, my husband didn't even wait for me to adjust and started moving, "Gilbert, please! Take it out!" I whimpered loudly, trying not to scream, "It-It hurts! I can't do this! Y-You're tearing me apart!"

Gilbert, while moving, huskily says, "Yes, you can! Just bear with the pain! You'll learn to like it." I shook my head and the tears continued to fall. His thrusts started getting faster,

"Gilbert, it hurts!" I screeched. My hands flew behind his back and my nails grabbed him with sheer pain, I heard him hiss in pleasure.

"You're so tight, Kandake. Deeper!" He thrust himself even further,and at an unbearable speed,

"Please, don't!" I cried as both of our moans got quicker. Before I knew it the whole bed was moving and rattling that it almost hit the headrest.

Suddenly I felt him hit a spot that made me see stars and screamed Gilbert's name, "R-Right there!"

My husband smiled, "So, I've finally found that special "heaven spot", hmm?" He leaned to my ear and asked, "How does it feel, madchen?"

Within each of Gilbert's thrusts I slowly felt the pain go away and dying, replacing itself with nothing better than pleasure as Gilbert continued hiting that spot,

"It feels…" His thrusts started getting even faster,

"It feels…" I tried saying again without being convulsed in pleasure,

"Well?" Gilbert asked,

"…good!" I said,

"Louder!" Gilbert ordered, "Say it louder."

"It feels good!"

"Scream fur mich, tell the whole world about it!" He ordered again,

"GILBERT, I LOVE YOU! IT FEELS SO GOOD!"

"Gut madchen," He said.

Suddenly I felt something build up inside of me, like a huge tidal wave, "G-Gilbert, something's happening!"

He grabbed my hips and said, "I-I know, I feel it too, Kandake."

"More, Gilbert! Give me more!" I demanded as I leaned in and kissed his lips and swirled my tongue in his mouth. Our names rolled out of each other's mouths, "Gilbert, I'm gonna-!"

I gasped and Gilbert shouted, "W-Wait for me, frau." I suddenly felt that tidal wave get larger and larger, "I think I'm-I'm gonna burst!" Suddenly gasps left our lips and our names fell from each of our mouths. I felt my walls clench together and whole body started shuddering. The only thing that I could see at the moment was white. Gilbert follows suit shortly and I felt my body be consumed by a heated substance.

Gilbert laid beside me and we both tried catching our breath. Me, far from being tired, crawled on top of him and took his manhood in my hands,

"I want more…"

Then I took it into my mouth and bobbed my head up and down, while listening to Gilbert's moans. It tasted so sweet, like candy. "Y-Your mouth is so w-warm, Kandake."

I took my mouth off of him and then climbed on top of him, slowly easing myself on his manhood in the process. I moaned as I started moving my hips up and down slowly, "It's so good!" I shouted and placed my hands on his muscular chest.

I heard him moan and say, "You're so f-fucking tight, Kandake." When I looked back he wrapped his hands around my hips and started pounding me up and down,

"Harder! Fuck me harder!" I screamed as he pounded me even faster than before. Our heated bodies wriggled before we eventually released again and layed back down. I stared into Gilbert's eyes, tired and exhuasted from our wedding night pleasures.

"I love you, Gilbert…"

"Ich liebe dich, Kandake."

"Ek is lief vir jou, Gilbert."

I awoke from my scared slumber.

_"It was just a dream... thank god." _

I felt my heart; it was pounding mercilessly. No sooner would I have expected it to fall out of my chest. I looked over at my side and noticed Gilbert, who was still asleep beside me, "You wouldn't do something like that to me..." I whispered, "...would you?"

**Ha, ha ha. You thought it was real didn't you? Fooled ya! Gilbert in this story is not that heartless! Or is he? *_* Nah just kidding. Translations will come later. So like it? Hate it? Wished I didn't create it? Let me know!**

**P.S: And what was up with Ludwig? Kinda OOC don'tcha think?**


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